


anima mea

by gaymess



Series: Blood, Soul & One [2]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:33:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 96,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23630056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaymess/pseuds/gaymess
Summary: there is a life after death.she knows it because she's lived it.but the world must hate her, because there's more after after death.
Relationships: Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Jo Haseul/Viian Wong | ViVi, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Series: Blood, Soul & One [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701034
Comments: 44
Kudos: 160





	1. one

××××××××××××

A gasp.

An invigorating swarm of tingles festered throughout her consciousness. Gradually, it bubbled from the hotspot of concentration and began to melt creepingly slow through the cracks and crevices of her mind. Every inch that these prickles touched and stroked began to alight like something coming to life. It triggered and toggled at memories that had been pushed back into the deeper intricacies of the mind, tugging at them with a loose rope to resurface them. Buoyant, thoughts began to shoot to the forefront of her consciousness. Images began to flash in bright bursts of colors and emotions and voices calling out to her past self, all playing out in front of her like a fast-forwarded movie that barely allowed her to interact with the thoughts.

Air flooded into her senses and wrapped around her bare consciousness. It was neither warm nor cold, which was foreign after having been very much fixated on the temperatures of her environment for so long. Merely, it existed.

Just as she did – her soul.

Earthly tethers began to wrap themselves around the bareness of her soul. Encompassing her entirely was a physical body that moved at her very desire, unnecessary limbs disappearing if she so wished and age of skin tightening and loosening to recall the original piece. Despite her lack of awareness, she knew exactly how she wanted the body to shape. She knew which form she wanted to assume, though her memory as to why it was so was slightly unclear, fogged by the onslaught of knowledge and information her soul was registering. The more she thought about it, the better she felt herself become adapted. And the more familiar the sensation.

“Eaugh, it’s been so long since I’ve seen this form.”

Eyes snapping open, the sight of clear, earthly blue skies greeted her. Several tufts of white clouds swam calmly across, though there was something animated in the way that they moved that gave the impression of being alive. The grass beneath her physical form curled under her and shaped to cradle her body attentively, almost tickling her as it did so. Eager bubbles of air gently touched at her lips to part them open, breath filling her insides and running to instill life back into the system.

A heavy cloth draped atop her, providing a weight on her bare body and shielding her away from the cool air that drifted across. “Here, put that on quickly so we can go see your pet.”

Jungeun gasped for air again, this time feeling her chest heave upwards before caving back in as she exhaled profoundly. Her body ached as she stretched her limbs, feeling the bones beneath her muscles pop into place when they hadn’t had the chance to while they were devising earlier. It was searringly painful, though nothing that she couldn’t bear with a gritting of the teeth.

The fabric in her lap was rough and thick, being an ashen gray that contrasted with her humane skin tone that had chosen to take on a more glazed shade in comparison to the pale one it used to be.

Unfazed at the realization that she was naked in a field of literal dancing grass, Jungeun tugged at the material sat obediently in her lap to wrap it around her shoulders and cover her body from any prying eyes. Which she traced back to a familiar figure impatiently yet loyally waiting for her to gather herself.

“I see you’re a little disoriented,” he said, an irked eyebrow tugging upwards in defiance.

Jaehyun looked completely undaunted by the image of her body, eyes not shying away from her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. On his head sprouted a full set of horns, glistening a pure white under the sunlight and curling around themselves in a simple yet powerful dance. They directed themselves backwards, following the motion of his slicked back hair. The points were sharp – Jungeun didn’t need to touch to know – though also decorated with blunt, gold ornaments from which small chains protruded and twined around the length of his horns before hanging beside his face. His chest was bare, countless scars strategically carved on his physical form, and Jungeun knew that if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t be wearing the loose white trousers that hugged at his hips. At the center of his chest a black rune burned to represent devotion.

“Jaehyun, good to see you, asshole.” Jungeun’s voice was croaky, though that was to be expected.

She pushed herself up from the floor, heavy cloak still loosely draped around her shoulders and held together by a golden clasp. Legs buckling beneath her weight, Jungeun reached out to the grass to stabilize herself and feeling the cool blades wrapping around her wrists and ankles in their eagerness to help.

Said demon scowled, long, thin tail flicking in warning behind him as he studied her. “Not really the first thing I expect you to say when you’ve gotten yourself in this mess.”

Jungeun approached him, wary of her footing on the uneven ground despite knowing that the grass would part beneath her every step. It had been a long time since she’d been in this environment. She’d grown more used to the unbending, immobile concrete floors of the human city that would clack in a satisfactory melody beneath her heels as she walked. Now she had to grow accustomed to the sensation of earth faintly giving way beneath her weight, which would take a while seeing as the last time she had been in the middle plain had been before she had first met any crazed sanguisuge that ordered her to do their bidding. Back when there had been natural order to the universe and deities weren’t crawling all over the lower plain and the framework wasn't falling apart.

When she arrived to stand in front of Jaehyun, a slow smile stretched across her face in spite of the permanent scowl on his. She wrapped her arms around his torso, managing to slither them under his bulky ones, and hugged him as tight as she could. “I’ve missed you.”

He pushed her away with enough force to send a human flying back, though Jungeun only moved several steps due to her consciousness still trying to configurate.

Jaehyun’s sharp, white tail curled around his body to place a protective barrier between the two, eyes flashing dangerously as he studied her. “You’ve been down there for so long that you’re even starting to greet like them,” he said, upper lip curling in disgust. "Remember your roots, Kim Lip."

Jungeun shook her head a little and wore a small smile, feeling slightly delirious. It was only now starting to settle into her mind that she had killed herself to access the middle plain and was now talking to another demon. The thought that she was really having this conversation after so long was unnerving.

“You’re angered because I left, are you not?” She didn’t say it in a serious manner, knowing that there wasn’t any bad blood between them. But both were aware of the truthfulness in her words anyway. “I said that I wouldn’t be gone too long, but I lied and now you’re being bitter about it by insulting their customs and culture as if we demons don’t crave their emotions and affection.”

Stoicism dictated all of Jaehyun’s body as they narrowed their eyes at one another, weighing up intentions and differences in opinions. It had been a while since Jungeun had seen or spoken to him, aside from the time where she’d been on the lower plain and had accidentally summoned him. That had been a pure accident she had not been expecting, but after giving much thought to the occassion, she'd also remembered him in good nature. Now that they were in the middle plain, she could see how strong he had grown. His inner strength (which was what really mattered to demons) showed outwardly on his physical body in the form of muscularity. He was no longer the scrawny demon that he had been when Jungeun had left the middle plain, now standing tall and proud in his own body, confidence oozing from him.

If they were to fight now, Jungeun would most certainly come out on the losing side.

Though that wasn’t really something she had to worry about, because Jaehyun’s face curled into his signature smirk.

Tail flicking up and down affectionately, he briefly turned his head away to grin widely. He challengengly tilted his chin at her. “I really did miss you, even though you’re still a colossal bitch for abandoning us.” He threw his bulky arm around Jungeun’s cloaked shoulders, the weight making her weakened body sway. “I missed having someone to make fun of Boss with while you were gone – doing it with only MJ is boring and his loud ass always gets us caught straight after. I swear we've had to go on so many Patrols that I'm on first name basis with all of the mortal souls in Purgatory.”

There was a childish pout on his face that made Jungeun smile, having not seen it in what seemed like millennia’s.

“Do you know how long we spent watching you on the lower plain, waiting for you charge to die? We started placing bets on when that would be.”

Panic swarmed Jungeun’s chest as she remembered the terms of her return to the middle plain. Instinctively, her hand flew to her chest where the familiar grooves of the soul mark would usually sit, yet instead all she felt was the soft flesh of her body.

“I bet one of my basans saying that your charge would have died when she got taken in by her kind!” Jaehyun raved on unaware of the increasing swell of anxiety in Jungeun’s body. “A basan, Lippie! Do you know how hard they are to keep?”

The last thing she remembered from the lower plain was floating in the healing water in her bedroom of the Estate and reaching out to hold onto Jinsol’s limp hand. It had been cold and lifeless. Jungeun could still feel her soul tethered to Jinsol's due to the way she had scattered it in the middle of the two existences while the blonde was trying to cross over. Fortunately, that had been more than enough to keep her from completing the process and sending them both into the middle plain when Jungeun wasn’t ready. Though she had known that eventually time would have caught up to her and dragged them both into death. In fact, she had sensed it when she had told Yerim to read the story that had given her the idea to almost destroy her soul.

“Let me just tell you this, it was a whole plot-twist and a half when we discovered that her and that Doyoung guy were actually best friends,” Jaehyun had been guiding her carelessly towards the lining of the clearing, where trees were beginning to sprout from the healthy green grass and shooting to the sky, “it had the whole room screaming – even me. I was so pissed that she dodged death again. I swear, your pet probably thinks it’s an extreme sport or something.”

An uncomfortable pressure sat in Jungeun’s chest as she remembered the pain she had been feeling before she had melted away.

Having to push her human body to its limits in order to search for a solution had not only taken a toll on her physically, but also mentally. The after-effects stubbornly clung onto her mind even in the middle plain, weighing down her thoughts and causing her movements to be more weary than what she would have liked. She had lost track of days reading scripture after scripture while trying out whatever spell and their extensive variations, just to get Jinsol to breathe again. Failure after failure, Jungeun had felt herself become more discouraged. But it hadn’t meant that all of her had given up faith.

Something told her that this time her plan had actually worked.

And the thought of her success put purpose in her steps and speed behind her movements.

She couldn't wait to see Jinsol.

“Ack!” Jaehyun sputtered exaggeratedly behind her, wiping at his face furiously and sticking his tongue out for good measure. “You’re like a fuckin’ infant – control your tail a little, you bitch.”

At the mention of a tail, confusion flooded her.

Jungeun span on her heel. “Tail?” Heart in her mouth, she desperately chased around herself to see what he was referring to. She only managed to catch sight of the end of it, but she saw a bright red arrowhead disappearing behind her the more she turned. It had been so long since she'd seen it. “Shit…” she whispered, grabbing behind her and feeling her hand come into contact with the wiry texture. Cold hit her in the face as her tail twitched underneath her grasp. “I'm not in my human form?”

Snickering came from Jaehyun’s direction as he watched her chase her own tail like a dog.

“You’re a demon, the most human you can be is like this.” Jaehyun gestured proudly to himself and his horn-headed figure. His tail flicked out behind him playfully, purposefully flexing his muscles at her. Sending her a suggestive wink for good measure, Jaehyun put his hands on his hips. Her response was to faux gag and back away from him, though it didn’t stop him from grinning his sharp teeth devilishly at her. “And why would you not want your horns? They’re what make us powerful. It shows our rank over everyone else. That we are better than they will ever be and that we have a right to eat their hearts out whe-“

Jungeun glared heatedly at the other demon, cutting off his passioned rant.

“Oh.” Owlishly blinking at her, his arms dropped to his sides. His gaze became fixated on her head. “Yeah, I can see why.”

“What? No, that’s not-“ She had been meaning to explain to Jaehyun that she had grown used to the lower plain and had actually enjoyed being in her human form, but with the worried look he was sending to her skull she felt dread overcome her. Her hands flew up to where her once beautiful, fully extended horns used to be and instead felt short, blunt stumps in their place. “What the-“

There was a grimace that expressed an awful amount of pity on Jaehyun’s face, sending fear shivering down her spine. “Maybe you spent a little too long in the lower plain,” he hissed sharply through his teeth, tail sweeping lowly along the grass in foreboding.

Jungeun, it seemed, had had her demonic status revoked. With the short horns on her head she resembled a new-born baby demon instead of her previously well-respected rank – or better yet, a human like she had originally intended to become – and that was not something she could easily ignore.

Trepidation instilled itself in her bones.

This just complicated everything.

-

“You know that this plan of yours is ridiculous, right?” Jaehyun floated beside her rapidly pacing body, having taken to sprouting his wings on his back so that he didn’t have to walk alongside her. He crossed one leg over another in a lazy manner, flying on his back with his hands behind his head like he was experiencing another day in Hell. All he was missing now was a sprite feeding him some delicious fruits and singing one of their beautiful songs. “I’ll admit, I said that your pet dodges death like she’s playing dodgeball, but I didn’t think that you’d be… helping her out with such a dangerous sport! And you just got back! You should stay here a while and detox yourself from all that mortality that you have around you, it is not a good look on you, Lippie.”

Jungeun decidedly ignored him, instead moving to where she could feel her soul guiding her.

She had to get to Jinsol as quick as possible.

The cloak that he had provided her with had a large hood, most likely because this was one of his and their statures were very different in size. (He towered over her by almost a full head.) Fortunately, it did a decent job of shielding her face from any curious eyes that they may attract (though Jungeun was very doubtful that would be an issue, considering they were in parts of the middle plain demons tended to avoid) as well as keeping the small horns from view.

Admittedly, the redness to her ears had still not disappeared. It was embarrassing to have to display her low ranking to others, especially after having lived so luxuriously because of her rank in the past. She used to have large, crimson horns that curved around her skull like a crown, with jewels and expensive decorative artefacts clinging onto them. Perhaps it was a superiority complex that all demons had, but to be a new-born around someone with as much influence and power as Jaehyun would be unimaginable. In fact, had she been anyone else she was sure that Jaehyun would have brutally murdered and killed her for fun and games. Just as all high-ranking demons did with any new-borns that were particularly annoying.

If she didn’t do anything about her horns, then she and Jinsol would be encountering more trouble than what she had bargained for.

Which reminded her-

“Where have you been keeping her?” Jungeun felt increasingly unsettled the longer she stayed away from Jinsol, even though she could still feel their souls tethered together in spite of them being in the middle plain.

Even while they were in the lower plain, Jungeun had made sure to keep tabs on Jinsol’s whereabouts and had had Viian to feed information back to her. Whenever she’d get too far, Jungeun would sit down and concentrate on their soul mark just to make sure that the blonde was safe and sound.

Call it self-preservation, since if Jinsol died then Jungeun would too, but Jungeun knew it was also because it was the only way she had for caring for her.

Jaehyun, bored of floating beside her, spun in mid-air and landed in stride just a step in front of her. “Just one of the empty wells that the lady sprites aren’t using anymore,” he said, waving his hand about as if trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. “She’s not a very polite house guest, by the way.” Distractedly, he fluttered away a small faerie with the back of his fingers as his tail frustratedly batted at the long grass behind him, almost prickling Jungeun’s bare ankles in the process. “She throws stones and pebbles at me whenever I try to feed her, which I did not ask for, I just came out here to have a good time and-”

“If you’re keeping her in a well then I’m not very surprised that she’s trying to kill you.” Ignoring whatever modern joke Jaehyun was trying to make, she tried to focus on the topic at hand. Jungeun thought about the last time she and Jinsol had fought and grimaced. “Hopefully she doesn’t try to kill me when she sees me.”

The other demon laughed to himself, seeming to have remembered the same thing as her because suddenly he was giving her his review on that memory.

It seemed as if though the demons in the middle plain had taken to her life on the lower plain as some sort of source of entertainment. Jaehyun knew all her important milestones with Jinsol, including the time that the two had been near to causing a full-fledged war between humans and sanguisuges back in the nineteenth century. And from what she could remember about life in the middle plain, she wasn’t too surprised that after speaking to her, Jaehyun had turned her life into a soap opera. The life of an immortal lost its fervor after several years of living, stuck in the same time with the same entities and no change of pace.

It was one of the reasons why she had so easily agreed to help Saerim. Rarely did an unknown demon get summoned to help with earthly matters.

Naturally when opportunity struck, Jungeun seized.

During the times when she and Jinsol weren’t talking, she never would have imagined herself being grateful for putting herself in that horrid situation. But now that they had been through everything they had been through, admittedly with some bumps in the road, Jungeun wouldn’t have swapped it for anything in the world.

(Perhaps some of her actions she would sell her life to to have reversed, but she had come to learn that wishing for the past was like wishing for all the knowledge in the world: impossible.)

She was glad to have gotten to know Jinsol, even if most of the time was spent loving from a distance.

At the thought of love, something leapt in her chest. It wasn’t her heart, because her demonic form saw no purpose for having a heart. Rather it was her soul concentrated in one small area within her chest, which when triggered sent a reaction tumbling from it.

“Okay, but if she doesn’t try to throw a brick at your head then I’m calling the Boss and filing a complaint.” Jaehyun flicked at the back of her head with his tail, to which Jungeun instinctively reached out and snatched. He hadn’t been expecting her reflexes to still be as fast as they had been when she’d left (perhaps even faster yet) so he was easily caught between her fingers. “Ow, shit! Okay! I won’t mention it again!”

Scoffing quietly, Jungeun took pity and released him.

She wrapped the cloak closer around herself, suddenly feeling self-conscious of her state of undress.

Human customs meant that people would cover themselves up with articles of clothing. In the same way that humans would use those to express their wealth and power, demons had their horns, tails and wings (if they chose to be in their human forms). Jungeun had grown so used to following along with human laws – even taking pride in the expensive fabrics and beautiful designs she would dress herself in – that the thought of walking around bare as demons were so used to doing made her feel abruptly uncomfortable.

It wasn’t that she was insecure about her body – quite the contrary – it was just that without an extra layer of clothing it felt as if though she was unprotected. Like a piece of her armor was missing.

(Or maybe it was the thought of greeting Jinsol with only a cloak as a piece of clothing, but those concerns were irrelevant.)

“Come along here,” Jaehyun vaguely jested with his head towards where yellowish light streamed through gaps in the trees. An anticipatory grin warmed his face, his sharp teeth glinting dangerously and eyes cooling into a lighter shade. “I’m sure your pet will be pleased to see the reason as to why she’s had to wait for almost thirty days in a hole.”

Jungeun’s tail snapped forward in a half-hearted attack before coiling around her leg in frustration, to which Jungeun uncomfortably tried shaking off. “You’re the reason why she’s been a hole, dumbass.” Walking around with her tail doing whatever it pleased would be a nuisance to her in the near future.

He jumped a little in the air, wings fluttering behind him spiritedly while he attempted to click his heels. “Technicalities schmalities.”

As the tall trees began to thin out and disperse, Jungeun felt herself become electrified. There was something in the way that the sunlight fell at a perfect angle in the sky to saturate everything in its wake. Dancing, the grass sensed their approach and began to part a path for them before they had even taken their steps, dividing like subjects giving way to their royalty. Somewhere not too far off rang trickling melodies of sprites, who resided in the more humid areas of the forests away from most demons, who preferred the dry, hot temperatures of Inanimatum. The scent of floating flora overwhelmed Jungeun’s senses and provided everything she needed to feel serenity unravel inside of her.

Just as Jaehyun had promised, a well situated itself beside a large boulder that had once been used by sprites to sit and relax. Now it rested abandoned in a small clearing, though it was a mark that there had once been life and activity in these parts of the woods.

Growing nearer to the well, Jungeun felt the pull in her chest increase by tenfold.

Longing clawed at her chest, desperate to crawl out if she didn’t do anything soon. But even with all the emotions overwhelming her, she felt her feet become uncooperative and slow to a slow walk. Like the grass was wrapping around her ankles and rooting her to her place. Like there was an immovable obstacle in her way that her subconscious knew she would never get over.

What if Jinsol didn’t want to see her?

She had done so many horrible things – had caused her so much pain and suffering – and Jungeun just expected her to greet her happily?

She was way in over her head.

Of course, Jungeun was so conceited that she believed that she was the solution to Jinsol’s problems. Or that she would be able to provide even a mere ounce of happiness that she had taken from her all those lifetimes ago. She should have accepted the inevitable years ago – she thought she had – but there was still a part inside of her clinging onto the hope that one day they’d be able to return to how they once used to be.

That they’d be just Jungeun and Jinsol again.

Her breathing was labored, coming in short puffs as if she were some addict craving a release. She had been way in over her head by believing that everything would be fine as long as Jungeun tried.

Newsflash: she wasn’t a godsend.

In fact, she was the exact opposite. She was a demon pulled out from the pits of hell destined to ruin everything she looked at and that didn’t exclude Jinsol. What she was trying to do was to go against her very nature by pretending to be something that she wasn’t, and for what? For her own self-satisfaction? Because she thought she was different from other demons?

Jaehyun’s tail involuntarily brushed against the back of her calf and brought her out of her reverie. Her anxious aura had probably triggered his subconscious, even though it wasn’t strong enough for him to be aware that he had reacted as such.

Jungeun inhaled sharply through her nose, about to tell Jaehyun that they could return to their house and forget about ever trying to bring back a mortal from the dead.

But then the sound of singing raptured her attention.

She had thought that the symphonies ringing throughout the vacant forest had belonged to the sprites further along the path in the nearby creek. They had been soft enough to brush delicately along her ears, not intending any harm when they had interrupted the silence of the afterlife. Well-thought out phrasing that called out to any nearby listener. Small lilts to the end of the sentences as if trying to coax someone to ascend. An enamouring rich timbre carried muted words that dulled all of Jungeun’s senses until the only thing she could hear was the emotions just as full as the tone carrying them.

Before she even realized it, her own two feet had walked her the rest of the way and her thighs were bumping against the side of the well. In her chest, the incessant tugging became more of a screaming necessity. A trance had seduced all control she’d once had over her body and was now tempting her over the dark, hollow edge of the well.

Jungeun’s breath caught in her throat once her eyes landed on the figure at the bottom.

Jinsol’s hair was dark – that sleek, glossy raven that it had been the first time that Jungeun had unknowingly fallen for her. Her figure was slumped against the side of the well, fingers absent-mindedly playing with the long strands of hair as she sung an old lullaby. A modest white dress clung to her shoulders by thin straps, revealing the faint outline of where their soul mark used to be painted nicely above her heart and presenting more skin than what Jungeun was used to. The hem of the dress dragged teasingly down her bare legs, slightly tanned skin glowing against the white. (Jaehyun had most likely provided her with the clothes, though it seemed as if though his devilish nature had had influence over his clothing choices because Jungeun was sure that Jinsol would have never worn something like that if she’d had a say about it.)

“You should have given her something less provocative.” Punching at his chest, Jungeun tried to keep her voice at a low register. She wouldn’t admit it aloud, but the thought of confronting Jinsol was the most terrifying thing she’d ever thought about, even in the afterlife. “No wonder she wants you dead.”

Pretending to be confused, Jaehyun rubbed at his chest where she’d hit him and tilted his head in perplexity. “But I was just making sure she looked good for you,” his voice, though riddled with mischief and hidden intentions, held some kind of authenticity. Like he’d genuinely made an effort to do something that he thought would make Jungeun happy. His lips spread into a slow grin. “Besides, judging by the redness of your face, I can happily take this as a win.”

Any kind of gratitude (no matter how little) suddenly dissipated in her chest.

“I will throw you into the Ring if you’re not careful.”

“I’ll throw you into the Ring if you’re not careful~” Jaehyun mocked, scrunching his features up into an ugly expression as he shoved at her shoulder. “You can’t do anything to me, baby demon.”

In demon culture, it wasn’t uncommon for some of the better-known demons to know have captured human souls for their own bidding once they returned to the middle plains. It wasn’t a secret that demons tended to be more liberal with their sexual expression. Many humans believed that there were demons who devoted their lives to become succubae and incubi, when in reality it was simply in their nature to have more open libidos. When Jungeun had still been unfamiliar to human customs, she’d been exactly like all the other demons who thought every ulterior motive should be to gain some self-indulgence – if it came in the form of physical gratification, even better. But returning to these customs felt a little like culture shock.

She couldn’t really blame Jaehyun for assuming that Jinsol would be her ‘play-thing’ throughout her stay in the middle plain, because really this was something completely normal to him. But to see him treating her as a simple prize that would serve only to make demons feel happier made Jungeun’s skin feel like there were insects crawling beneath.

Deciding to ignore the matter for now, Jungeun took a deep breath to calm the jittering in her chest.

As she peered over the edge of the well, the sunlight above her cast an intrusive shadow down below that would have most certainly felt threatening for its prisoner. Almost in slow motion, Jinsol’s voice reverberated throughout the column of the stone well and an eerie silence sat in its place. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as listening to Jinsol sing, but Jungeun didn’t really have time to think about the loss when said girl was tilting her head back to look up at the threat.

Jungeun felt everything in the world stop moving the moment her eyes met Jinsol’s.

Warmth spread across her cheeks as she felt the doe eyes scanning her face. A bump in her chest let her know that her soul was pleased with the development.

“Hi, Jinsol- Fuck!”

Jungeun ducked when she saw the brick pelting towards her face from where the girl had been sitting, almost getting whiplash from how fast she’d had to move to avoid being struck. Inside her ribs was a small trot, most likely representing how nervous her soul was feeling.

“Ah shit! What the fuck!” Jaehyun let out a stream of curses from where he had inattentively been staring at the passing flora. His hands clutched at his nose, nails beginning to darken into claws and eyes morphing as anger filtered through his system. “Lippie, you better get your pet under control before I send her to the Ring! I swear to my mother in Hell, this is the third time!”

“Screw you, symphylan!” Jinsol shouted from the bottom of the well, voice rough from god-knows how much screaming she’d been doing.

Growling, Jaehyun tugged at Jungeun’s forearm and pulled her from her shocked state. “I’m telling you now,” his clawed fingers dug into the flesh at her arm, breath unnervingly fanning across the side of her face, “if she doesn’t stop this behaviour now then you can kiss your plan ‘goodbye’, because there’s no way in all that is holy that you two are getting across the middle plain alive if she keeps trying to act out.” His warning rang deep in her ears even as he forcibly pushed her towards the well and stormed away.

Feeling slightly sorry that he’d had to look after Jinsol even though she hadn’t really prompted it, Jungeun promised herself to make it up to him later. Plus, the way that his blood kept pouring from his nose even in his attempts to stop the flow was slightly worrying.

Jungeun prayed that Jinsol had ran out of ammunition to throw at them as she approached the well once more. “Jinsol, please don’t throw anything-“ On cue, a smaller pebble hurtled out of the well and landed no where near where she was standing. “Please listen to me, I just-“ A sharp stone, this time brushing just past her shoulder. “-I’m going to talk even if you’re not listening if you keep-“ It was small, but a pebble the size of her fingernail flew out from the well at the perfect angle and speed to strike her between the eyebrows and send a small shoot of pain across her head.

Frustration was what caused her claws to tear out from her hands and tear into the stone of the well, sending rubble scattering down.

Sure, Jinsol owed her nothing, but Jungeun had died that very day and so far nothing was going to plan, so no one should have been surprised when she lost her patience and decidedly began to scale down the side of the well.

The cloak was doing well to cover her, heavy enough that even when she jostled about it didn’t try to move aside and reveal her. It was almost like wearing a hanbok, held tightly by the golden clasp as it had been tasked to do. Jungeun really didn’t want to think about what she’d do if it suddenly loosened and fell away, she already had to cope with Jinsol’s own appearance.

When she landed at the bottom, rubble from where she had broken the edge of the well digging into the soles of her bare feet, she accusingly spun around in hopes of reprimanding the mortal.

Instead, she found herself face to face with a paralyzing visage.

Jungeun felt the air knocked out of her lungs when she registered Jinsol up close.

It was one thing seeing her dark hair from afar, but it was another actually experiencing the way that it cascaded naturally down her shoulders and back, framing her face purposefully. For so many years, Jinsol had had her bleached blonde hair that called out for attention and rounded her features in a god-like manner. But if Jungeun had thought that the blonde had made the other look more mature and grown, then she had assumed wrong. Because the black sharpened her storming brown eyes into a daring glare, and suddenly her lips seemed fuller and pinker and Jungeun couldn’t tear her gaze from her neck-

Jungeun heard the slap before she felt it. Her left cheek burned from where she’d just been struck, but it wasn’t anything in comparison to some of the hits she’d taken from Jinsol in the past. That was just a nudge when she compared it to getting impaled by a splintered broom.

“I-“ Her lips couldn’t wrap around the speech she’d had formed in her mind quick enough.

Across from her, Jinsol’s doe eyes burned intensely into hers. She looked humane – which made sense if she considered the fact that they were both technically dead, meaning that she was no longer a sanguisuge. It had been a long time since she’d seen Jinsol’s cheeks sprout that red color when it wasn’t caused by blades cutting into skin. Her soul lurched happily at the realization.

Before she knew what was really happening, Jinsol pushed her backwards and away from her. With curled fists, she hit and struck at Jungeun’s unprotected chest, though the impact was cushioned by the thick cloak that provided a hood over her head and hugged her shoulders. Maybe it had been a trick of the mind, but Jungeun was sure that there were tears streaming down Jinsol’s face as she unleashed all of her pent-up anger and frustration on her. She couldn’t really tell through her blurry vision impairing her ability to see.

Jungeun registered her own tears when her body made her gasp for air.

Had she been crying?

She finally heard what Jinsol had been mumbling to herself all the while, pain in her chest clamping up while Jinsol repeated, “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you,” at her.

Well, at least some things hadn’t changed.

A laugh was startled out of her, with it bringing the sensation of relief that Jungeun had been holding back in case this was all some morbid hallucination to punish her. It seemed to surprise Jinsol just as much, who snapped her wide eyes at her in visible distraught and confusion. But Jungeun wasn’t about to ignore the rush of elation that made her feel as if though she were floating.

“I love you,” she laughed, absently trying to stop the onslaught of attacks on her torso.

The words just set Jinsol off into another breakdown, this time the mortal ranting at her about how she’d been so selfish for not letting her die in peace, and how on top of that she’d been cruel for making her wait for so long in the bottom of a well with just the company of someone so insufferable, and how much she hated her from the bottom of her soul. No matter how stuttered her sentences were, or how many times her voice cracked under the pressure of her burdening emotions, her hands never stopped pounding at Jungeun’s chest. It never hurt, however, which was strange because if she wanted to, Jinsol could have tried to kill her right there and succeeded.

Jungeun knew that. She knew that as she hastily curled her fingers around Jinsol’s fists, trying to still them from their desperate jolting.

“Jinsol,” she grinned as she sought out familiar brown eyes, eyebrow tugging up in amusement. When she got what she wanted in the form of an odious glare, Jungeun let her expression melt even more. “I love you.”

Jinsol ripped her hands away from Jungeun’s, carelessly wiping at her tear-stained face and scowling at her. “I fucking hate you so much.” At an immeasurable speed, Jinsol coiled her hands around the cloak at Jungeun’s neck and shook her forward. There was a war playing out behind her troubled eyes, which Jungeun now had a first-row seat of due to the proximity. “I hate you so much… but-“

A rush of nerves shot through her as she watched Jinsol’s eyes dance around her face. She still couldn’t believe that they were there. Together.

Always together.

“I know,” Jungeun reached up to brush away Jinsol’s hair, the back of her fingers tracing her jaw before delicately cupping her face. If she woke up in that moment back on the lower plain because she had dreamt all of this up, then Jungeun would unleash Hell on Earth. “I know you do, but it’s okay.” And it really was. Soundness filled her up from the bottom to the top of her being. “It’s okay, I’ll still be with you. Like I promised.”

And then Jinsol laughed – and Jungeun thought that the girl was trying to kill her because it had been three hundred years since she’d done that – and then her mind went numb.

Jinsol tugged her forward and kissed her.

Kissed her like she was trying to steal her life from her lips, like she’d not had any water and Jungeun was all that she needed to survive.

Sure, Jungeun had been kissed more times than she would ever be able to count – she was a demon who thrived off of physical attention and craved it no matter who it came from.

But she had known ever since the first time she had kissed Jinsol three hundred years ago that there would be no one else that she could possibly think about when she kissed someone. That no matter how many years passed, and how forgotten the feeling of Jinsol’s lips on hers became, she would still yearn and plead every night to have a chance to feel them again.

Hopelessness and desperation poisoned her veins, whispering commands into her ear that resulted in her hands urgently scrabbling at Jinsol’s waist to pull her impossibly closer. Her lips were so soft and warm against hers, moving as if they were trying to remember just how they used to fit. Jungeun felt clawing at her chest as she stumbled forward in her efforts to be closer – to feel a heartbeat against her skin – to just consume everything that was being given to her. The clawing spread to the lump in her neck, and her lips were parting to alleviate the feeling, unknowingly welcoming Jinsol into her mouth.

A huff pushed warm air across her face. Jungeun frenziedly chased to catch it, angling her head for a better chance.

White heat scorched through her mind and down the back of her neck when their tongues clashed, teasingly melting down her spine and spreading like a wildfire throughout her body. Jinsol weaved her arms around her neck, tucking into the hood and making it fall. Hands pressed against Jungeun’s shoulders, encouraging her to move closer before raking across the expanse of her bare back.

Jungeun couldn’t even muffle her whimper in another kiss because one of Jinsol’s hands had found purchase in her hair. Obediently, Jungeun allowed her head to be led to where the other wanted her, pressing a heated, open-mouthed kiss onto the sweet skin there. A gasp was what she was rewarded with, Jinsol’s body jolting in Jungeun’s embrace as a response and finger gripping tightly at her hair at her scalp. And just because she wanted – needed to hear more, she blindly pressed forward and scraped her teeth along the vulnerable skin before biting.

“Jung-“ Jinsol’s voice echoed slightly around them, head tilting back and hitting the surface of the well.

An overwhelming sensation burst from the top of Jungeun’s head.

Losing her balance, Jungeun cried out in surprise and felt herself slide against Jinsol’s body as she fell. The latter reflexively grasped at her elbows as she did so, preventing her from completely collapsing to the floor and instead holding her against her chest.

Trying to regain her bearings, Jungeun waited until the tingling that had spread from the top of her head disappeared. Her forehead rested against Jinsol’s heavily rising and falling chest, the faint scarring of their soul mark proudly mocking her as a reminder of who they were and where exactly they had been about to let themselves lose their inhibitions.

“Are you okay?” Jinsol’s voice softly broke the silence, sounding incredibly muffled in Jungeun’s ears.

Pulling herself together, Jungeun leaned back to meet Jinsol’s half-concerned, half-amused gaze. “Y-yeah, I just-“ With the hand that had been unknowingly pulling at Jinsol’s dress, Jungeun reached up to her head and felt her poor excuse for horns. They seemed to be slightly tender to others’ touch, considering they had only just grown recently. “They’re new, so if you touch them it feels really… sensitive.”

It was definitely amusement on Jinsol’s face as she put her hands on Jungeun’s shoulders to try to push her down. “Horns?” Her voice, though rough in texture, carried curiosity and mirth. “Like the demons in the books? How cliché.”

Embarrassment blazed across Jungeun’s face as she pulled herself away from Jinsol’s prying gaze. “If you’re just going to make fun of them, I’ll just never take this hood off.”

“No, I was only joking,” Jinsol laughed, her own cheeks dusted with a pleasant pink. Her eyes had still not lost their darkened haze to them, and the after-effects of the kiss were still showing in the way she breathlessly observed her from against the wall. But the mortal shook her head wildly as if to rid herself of her thoughts. “How come you never had any when we were… alive?”

Jungeun tugged at the hood, making sure to cover part of her face in the process. (The last thing she wanted was Jinsol to see her blush, too.) “I was in human form,” she tried shaking off the warmth that had snuck underneath her skin. “Apparently, I’m not allowed to be in human form if I’m in the middle plain.”

“Right.” Jinsol nodded understandingly, though from the corner of Jungeun’s eyes she could see her teeth trapping her lower lip. “Just like I’m no longer a sanguisuge, right?”

Distractedly, Jungeun gravitated towards where the girl was leaning up against the wall. “Hmm…”

“Jungeun,” Jinsol warned lowly. “I don’t think now is the time to do this.”

It was dumbfounding finally being able to approach Jinsol without being pushed away and threatened for her life. There was almost an addictive high that came from it when Jungeun managed to press herself into Jinsol’s body, feeling their thighs coming to press together as Jungeun’s hands found purchase at her hips. Had she done this months ago, she would have been cut into pieces.

Leaning in, Jungeun hummed in acknowledgement to the previous statement even if she hadn’t been listening to it at all.

Their lips brushed and then Jaehyun was ruining the moment.

“Unless you guys have room for one more, I recommend saving this for a time where you’re not in a well? Not that I’m not enjoying the sexual energy, but I think you guys are monogamous?” Jaehyun’s head popped out from the side of the well, gold chains dangling down the side of his face from his horns and bleeding seeming to have stopped. “Lippie, you are monogamous, right? Your tail wouldn’t stop hitting me every time I suggested a threesome-“

“Jaehyun shut up.” Jungeun growled, tail flicking behind her in annoyance.

“Tail?” Jinsol raised her eyebrows, looking searchingly at her.

“Ugh, don’t worry about it.” Jungeun avoided her gaze and instead called up to Jaehyun. “Now yes, we can go!”

“Great!” Jaehyun’s head disappeared for a moment before quickly poking back over the top. “I got us a ride!”

For a moment Jungeun thought he meant an uber, having grown used to calling for one whenever she wanted to quickly get around the city. But then she remembered that they were in the middle plain and that they didn’t have any vehicles, so the only thing that Jaehyun could possibly mean about ‘rides’ was-

A familiar grinning face suddenly appeared beside Jaehyun, and Jungeun felt a rush of different emotions burst through her.

“Kim Lip! You whore, you could have called! How have you been?” MJ cackled, teeth glinting at her from the top.

Jungeun felt herself deflate.

God, please help me.

××××××××××××


	2. two

Heejin knew next to nothing about her. The only thing she knew was her name, what she looked like, and that she was a bitch.

Ha Sooyoung.

Her supposed half-sister from her mother’s side; a secret that had been kept almost suspiciously well from both the public and from Heejin. They had met for the first time in her – excuse Heejin’s mind, she hadn’t yet managed to wrap her head around the concept – their mother’s hospital room. Sooyoung had been wearing this dark, sleezy grin as she introduced herself that made the nerves scuttle all over Heejin’s body. There had been a copious amount of confidence dripping from her posture alone – Heejin hadn’t had to hear her throaty voice to know the girl was more than confident in her own skin. Just the fact alone made her, a fatherless child still dealing with the trauma of recent events, fill up with insecurities.

Needless to say, Heejin had hated Sooyoung with every single fibre in her body from the very get-go.

“Wow, are my eyes deceiving me or is my dearest baby sister paying me – a lowly commoner – a visit at this humble hour?” Sooyoung was wearing another one of her stupid crop tops that revealed her toned mid-riff, which she seemed to be intent on accentuating it from the way she popped her hip out. There was a glint in her eyes that told Heejin all about just how much her contempt was mutual, not afraid to reveal it in snide comments disguised as pleasantries.

Digging her manicured nails into the flesh at her palms, Heejin brushed past the older girl’s side. She was careful not to touch her as she did so. She was very much aware of the group that was sat at the table, recognizing two of the boys as the ones who had roughed her up at her last attempt at aggression.

_It hadn’t been her finest hour: Heejin had just finished a meeting that had shaved off ten years of her life from the stress that it had caused her, and she happened to have walked past the plaza where Sooyoung appeared to like hanging out in. Of course, she had done her best to duck her head and pray that her facemask would conceal her features. The last thing she wanted from that already tiring day was a confrontation with the source of her nightmares as of late. But it seemed like the older girl had a keen sense to her presence because she had noticed her either way._

_“Heejin-ah, what a coincidence, I was just talking about you.”_

_At the time, Heejin had made the thoughtless error to stop and meet Sooyoung’s gaze. Previous encounters with Sooyoung had proved to her that her half-sister was nothing but persistent. If Heejin tried to reject her offers at conversation with dull responses, or if she deliberately ignored her approaches, then the older girl would just come back ten times as hard and with wittier comments than the last._

_Already aware of the girl’s eagerness to converse and her own fatigued state, Heejin didn’t see the point in trying to battle against whatever Sooyoung was up to this time._

_“What do you want, Ha Sooyoung.” Heejin made sure to emphasize the lack of honorific with a raise of the eyebrow._

_Hints of a scowl surfaced on her face, before it was quickly being wiped away by a plastic smile. “That’s ‘Unnie’ to you.”_

_Unamused, Heejin just blankly stared at the older girl. Seeing as she wasn’t going to be saying anything else and instead was waiting for her to address her with respect, Heejin began on her way back home._

_The vice grip at her wrist stopped her in her tracks._

_“You know, I’ve been doing some research on you lately, and I discovered that you, young lady, barely graduated from high school this summer.” Sooyoung had an infuriating pout on her lips, one that let Heejin know she was just exaggerating for the sake of trying to get a rise out of her. “There were many reports excusing your absence all written by some Wong Viian – that is her name, right? I’m sorry, I didn’t know you affiliated yourself with foreigners.”_

_A lot of things were happening in Heejin’s mind._

_At the forefront of it all was confusion._

_Was Sooyoung… being racist?_

_Sooyoung was a lot of things, but the last thing that Heejin had expected from someone that shared the same bloodline as her was for them to be so unashamedly discriminatory._

_“I can’t see why this should concern you.” Heejin said, prying her wrist from where Sooyoung had left red marks on her skin. She was doing her best to quell the irrational anger bubbling in her chest, but she found that when faced with Sooyoung’s exaggeratedly wide eyes it was trying not to lunge at her._

_“I’m just doing you a favour, sister – as family we should really get to know more about each other.” Sooyoung viciously grinned, her teeth glinting in the grayish light the clouds casted. “After all, I’m all you seem to have nowadays.”_

_Nausea swept over Heejin._

_Flashes of dark red staining her hands were brought to the forefront of her mind. The scent in the air at the time was like a toxin that clung to the collar of her shirt, refusing to leave her even months later. It was as if she could still feel the way the gunshot had resounded in the pristine hallways and had left her eardrums trembling in her ears, not unlike the way her hands would when they stained red._

_“Even if you are, I still don’t want anything to do with you.” Her voice was steady._

_She picked at her fingernails._

_“Hey, that’s a little harsh.” Sooyoung arched her eyebrows, though Heejin could see through her act like staring at a clear water bath. And it seemed like the older girl was intending for it to be that way. “Do you really think that Mom would want her two precious daughters to be fighting like this? After all, I’m just playing the part of an older sister looking after the failed child of the family. Can’t even graduate normally like the rest of us-”_

_Heejin had never been very athletic. That had always been Hyunjin’s thing – attending track club and working out as a pastime._

_But although it being recent development, she had allowed herself to divulge in private self-defence lessons so that in case of situations of danger she would at least be able to do something for herself. And even though it had only been a month since she had begun, there was something habitual in the way her instincts urged her to fight rather than fly._

_Her closed fist had met with Sooyoung’s unguarded stomach. The angle of the trajectory hadn’t been the safest, though she had only realized when pain shot from her wrist and to her forearm._

_The impact had been strong, though, and Sooyoung was doubled over while clutching at the injured area._

_She didn’t have any time to follow through with her attack, however, when she felt a slap across the surface of her face that sent her stumbling backwards. It had been openhanded, and her personal instructor had informed her that if placed correctly, she could deafen someone with something as easy as that. He had also informed her on how to block attacks that aimed for the face, but Heejin hadn’t expected a third party to be joining their quarrel._

_The ringing in her ear was disequilibrating, and Heejin cradled her face as she tried to regain her vision that had been briefly spotted by dark splodges. For a short-lived moment, Heejin didn’t know what was up and what was down._

_Hands grappled at the hair at her scalp, bringing her face up to the looming figure towering over her. He must have realized what he looked like, grabbing some young girl by the hair in the middle of the street, because he released her quickly. But there was a dangerous glint to his eyes as he glared down at her, as if wordlessly telling her that if she ever decided to act out like that again then she wouldn’t see the end of it._

_“Do you have no respect?” He hissed, spit flying onto Heejin’s warming cheek. “Who do you think you are, hitting people who are older than you?”_

_Heejin pushed herself away from his tall figure. “You know nothing about what you’re talking about.”_

_“Little bitch, are you talking down to me?” He raised his voice a little, eyes widening in an almost crazed manner._

_Behind him, Sooyoung wore an almost pleased smirk as she watched from a fair distance. It was as if she had intended for all of this to happen – had intentionally lured her in so that she would act out and provoke this guy (her boyfriend?) into defending her honor. She had even unknowingly given him an excuse to hit her back despite how questionable that would appear in a liberal society. ___

__Heejin knew what game Sooyoung was trying to play, and no matter how much the latter loved playing it Heejin would not let herself bite._ _

__Heejin reached the counter of the coffee shop, her hands reaching out to the marble to steady herself as she did so. The scent of caffeine and saccharine was heavy in the establishment, but it wasn’t like this was unfamiliar territory for her. Not at all._ _

__“What, you’re just going to ignore your Unnie?”_ _

__Closing her eyes and inhaling sharply through her nose, Heejin prayed to whatever was up there to give her strength to keep from spinning around and punching the older girl square in the face. It wasn’t like Heejin had a short temper or anything – in fact, she considered herself quite patient whenever it came to annoying situations. But there was something about the constant reminder that her mother had led another life apart from their own family that just set her off._ _

__Anxiously, Heejin let her fingers rap at the counter._ _

__Where is she?_ _

__“Hey, I’m talking to you.”_ _

__Two fingers dug into the back of Heejin’s head and shoved her forward. The glasses that had been harmlessly perched on the bridge of her nose slid off from the force and clattered onto the counter._ _

__“Don’t just ignore-“_ _

__The red mist that had steadily been diffusing over her vision finally overtook her senses. Heejin spun around and gathered whatever fabric she could manage to get a hold of on Sooyoung’s skimpy crop top. Her balled up fists pushed up them up to the bottom of the other’s jaw, managing to successfully knock it with her knuckles. It was difficult to control her anger as she shoved her backwards with enough strength to knock her against an unsuspecting table where a student had been sitting._ _

__The student jolted in their place with wide eyes, gripping at their laptop and drink in an attempt to steady the belongings._ _

__“Don’t fucking touch me.” Heejin spat, feeling her upper lip curling to bare her teeth. There was already a lump forming in her throat even though that was the only thing she had said._ _

__Sooyoung narrowed her eyes in what looked like fury. There was a cold calmness to her that made Heejin’s instincts perk up. She shoved down at her wrists, successfully releasing the vice grip that Heejin had had on her and returned the favour by pushing her by the shoulders._ _

__Heejin stumbled backward into the counter, feeling the pain shooting up her spine on impact but ignoring it to glare at the older girl. Her heart was racing wildly in her chest, adrenaline numbing her fingertips cold. She knew that this was the last place that they should be doing this, but all of her repressed frustration, fury and anger had been building up these past four months and it was only rational that she’d lose it._ _

__A familiar figure appeared at Sooyoung’s side, steadying her with a hand at her lower back._ _

__Fantastic, here’s one of the henchman._ _

__“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The tall guy, Taeyong, glowered down at her and intimidatingly stepped closer. “Don’t you think you’re a little rude to be pushing people into others’ study spaces?”_ _

__Although he wasn’t the same one who had slapped her that day, he one of the guy’s that hung around Sooyoung’s side whenever Heejin would bump into her. (Infuriatingly, they seemed to cross paths pretty often despite Heejin doing her best to steer clear from places she knew the older girl frequented.) There was the same aura around him that encompassed Sooyoung: the unfaltering confidence and poise. The way his jaw set firmly to define the sharp edge was daunting. His round eyes would always thin into a precise glare that always managed to strike Heejin where she was weakest and render her immobile._ _

__Like now, where she just ground her teeth together. There was nothing she could say that would satisfy either of them._ _

__“Apologize to her.” Taeyong’s voice resounded loudly within the café, catching the attention of customers who hadn’t already been staring as if this was a reality TV show._ _

__Beside him, Sooyoung had pulled down her shirt. Her chest was still heaving as she glared daggers right into Heejin’s defiant gaze, the necklace that hung from her neck glinting under the warm light of the coffee shop. There was an underlying threat in the way she stood placidly at the guy’s side – almost as if she were daring her to make a move, knowing that Heejin would always end up on the losing side._ _

__She was playing innocent._ _

__The lump in her throat had sealed her lips shut. Her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth, impeding her from speaking even if she wanted to. Pressure dug into her frame from every single direction from where people’s meddlesome eyes were watching her expectantly._ _

__Is this what she had become?_ _

__She had been reduced to a ball of anxiety that barely knew how to handle herself in her own body. Where there used to be immense amounts of self-assurance and confidence in who she was and what she believed in, there was now heaps of doubts and insecurities that could riddle the most confident person useless. And that’s what it had done to her, because in the back of her mind there were voices telling her that she wasn’t strong enough to fight against two bullies, and that she would never be deserving of the title her dead father and comatose mother had left behind._ _

__This was the real world – there was no more high school reputation she could hide behind._ _

__“Well?” Taeyong jutted his chin out, looking down at her condescendingly. “Did your parents not teach you manners?”_ _

__Tears glazed Heejin’s eyes before she could even register the question. Her nostrils prickled, the stale scent triggering a wave of dizziness that had her gripping at the counter behind her. Inside her chest was her heart mercilessly pounding away at her ribcage with so much force that Heejin could feel her heartbeat in her stomach._ _

__Sooyoung’s eyes danced around her appearance blankly._ _

__She loved the effect those words had on her._ _

__Just when Heejin thought she would have a panic attack in the middle of the coffee shop, she felt someone sidle up to her. They gently grabbed at her bicep, fingers squeezing in assurance. As if someone had caught onto the loosened rope of her sanity and was tugging her back down to earth, where her feet could touch the ground and she would find stability and safety again._ _

__“What’s going on here?” Yerim’s voice had never sounded cooler – frosty at the edges and serrated at the ends with the intentions to cut._ _

__Usually, the last thing one expected to be harmed by was Choi Yerim. There was something about her naturally sunny disposition that appealed innocence and happiness, more often that not a smile on her face even when the situation didn’t call for it._ _

__But perhaps it was the makeup that she wore that day that accentuated the sharpness in her eyes, or the careless tussle of her hair over the oversized denim jacket. Intimidation coated Yerim’s posture as she stood a little in front of Heejin’s figure, evident in her intentions to protect. The way she set her shoulders so firmly dared at the two attackers to try something._ _

__Although Yerim was the last person Heejin should be trusting, she couldn’t help but shuffle closer to where she stood and wrap her fingers around her jacket. Warmth spread carefully from her arm and to the rest of her body, as if it were aware that she was shivering._ _

__There was something in the familiarity of the uncomfortable distrust that always appeared whenever the vampire was near. It wasn’t the most reliable feeling in the world, but it was overwhelming enough that Heejin’s mind was suddenly distracted to thoughts like: how did she manage to turn up at just the right time? Had she been following her? Was there an ulterior motive to all of this?_ _

__Taeyong weighed Yerim’s appearance up with a careful gaze. Heejin had always known that he was intelligent – anyone would be able to see it in the way he spoke so eloquently – but his intuition was somehow much more intimidating than his appearance._ _

__“Nothing to trouble yourself over,” his lie tumbled from his lips effortlessly, though his eyes told another story as he studied the two girls in front of him. “There was just a misunderstanding and we were trying to solve it peacefully – though now I realize that it’s been settled, so we’ll be heading along.”_ _

__His stoically eyes met Heejin’s over Yerim’s shoulder._ _

__“Come on Sooyoung.”_ _

__As quietly as he had arrived, he left without waiting for another word from either of them. His hand rested on the small of Sooyoung’s back, just barely touching the skin there to encourage her to walk away from what could have been a fight._ _

__Sooyoung’s eyes continued to pierce into Heejin’s even as she began to retreat back to their table of friends, who had been watching the exchange with baited breaths and mock concern. It was Heejin’s first time seeing them all come together, but that may have been a good thing seeing as they all shared one common trait: they all looked like rich heirs and heiresses. Whatever Sooyoung’s social status, it must have been high for her to be hanging out with the likes of Jang Yeeun._ _

__Heejin watched as Taeyong guided Sooyoung back to her seat beside him, feeling the shakiness in her breathing as she did so._ _

__“Are you okay, Unnie?” Yerim moved to stand in front of her, a concerned arch to her eyebrows. She removed her hands from her arms and instead habitually played with the ends of her hair while waiting for a response, a nervous tick that Heejin had spotted._ _

__The expression on her face was unlike the one she used to wear when they were still in high school: it was open, and trusting, and almost urging her to disclose all of her worries. Heejin realized immediately that it was because she was no longer pretending to be someone she wasn’t. That didn’t stop the paranoia from swimming in her thoughts whenever they were together, however. In fact, it only made it worse once she understood that the Yerim she was seeing in front of her was a completely different version to the one she had grown up with. That she had to get to know someone she thought she was close to at one point._ _

__“Yeah.” Heejin grimaced at the way her voice cracked. She quickly scrambled to pull herself together, breathing in deeply and placing the glasses back on her face again. “What are you doing here?”_ _

__Guiltily, Yerim glanced behind her to the entrance of the café. “I was actually just hanging out with Yeojin in a bubble tea shop, but I heard your voice from over there.” With a nervous ruffle of the hair that sent brown curls cascading over her denim shoulder, Yerim hesitantly met her eyes. “Your heartbeat was racing irregularly so I assumed that something was wrong and decided to see if you were… okay”_ _

__Despite the lingering suspicion in Heejin’s mind, she blatantly ignored it and instead managed a weak yet grateful smile._ _

__“It seems like you assumed right…” Her eyes couldn’t help but glance in Sooyoung’s direction, though they were immediately repelled when she noticed some of her friends still staring unabashedly at her. “I didn’t know that she would be in here today and just charged in without thinking, but of course it’s Ha Sooyoung and she just had to come over and torment me…”_ _

__“I can deal with her, if you’d like.” Yerim’s eyes flashed a bright purple as she said that._ _

__Heejin’s heart leapt desperately to her throat, glancing around to see if anyone had seen that. “No, Yerim you can’t just- don’t do that, someone might see.” Her hands reached out to grab at the vampire’s wrists, doing her best to emphasize just how serious she was. “And I don’t think we should try to get involved with her, there’s something off about her.”_ _

__Yerim wrinkled her nose in what seemed like frustration._ _

__It wasn’t much of a secret what the relationship between Heejin and Sooyoung was._ _

__Not long after the two had met in the darkness of the hospital room, there had been one news article announcing an illegitimate child belonging to the recently hospitalized Jeon Chanhee. It wasn’t like it had made headlines – Heejin’s parents hadn’t been public politicians that were well-known to the public – but there had certainly been rumors that sprouted from the piece of information that seemed to chase Heejin around everywhere._ _

__Because even though they weren’t publicly famed, her parents had still had a good amount of political influence behind the scenes._ _

__Heejin was made aware of that through the numerous calls she received from their associates, as well the visits to her home in manipulative attempts to get close to her._ _

__After all, they all saw her for what she was: a recently graduated high schooler left defenceless by the unfortunate tragic events at her parents’ research facility. Which translated to an easy target they could use as a pawn piece for their political games._ _

__“Are you sure you don’t want me to tear her spleen out? Slash her tyres? Crack her phone screen until she can’t see her disgusting face anymore?”_ _

__A startled laugh pushed itself from Heejin’s stomach, dissipating some of the red mist that was still clinging to her mind._ _

__“If someone told me six months ago that Choi Yerim would be threatening to ‘tear someone’s spleen out’ I would have called them psychotic.” Her smile was inevitable, the more she thought about the madness of it the funnier this whole situation was to her._ _

__Yerim’s eyes glinted playfully, her own soft grin on her face as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket. “I’m still the same lovely dongsaeng you knew six months ago, Unnie,” her voice was light with mirth, “I just don’t like it when the people I care about get harassed by scums who think that they’re worth anybody’s time.”_ _

__Before Heejin could give her an appropriate response, a clatter behind the counter caught their attention._ _

__“Hello, I’m so sorry for the wait – how can I help you?”_ _

__Heejin turned around and felt disappointment crushing her chest when her gaze met a stranger’s._ _

__“Hi- yeah, uh-“ She briefly wondered if she should just order something so that she didn’t waste the bartender’s time but decided against it. “Do you know if Kim Hyunjin is working today? She’s one of the employees at this store.”_ _

__The bartender’s eyes seemed to flash with recognition at the sound of the name, a wide smile blooming on her face as she did so. “Ah, Hyunjinnie? She called in sick this morning last minute – I’m actually standing in for her since she couldn’t make it today.” Her liveliness was contagious, her grin almost lifting Heejin’s mood despite the terrible afternoon she was having. “Is there a message you would like me to pass onto her? Maybe a phone number if you’d like?”_ _

__Heejin blinked in surprise at the wink that was shot in her direction._ _

__Flustered, Heejin laughed and shook her head. “No there’s no need, I already have her number.”_ _

__A knowing look appeared on the bartender’s face, though Heejin couldn’t possibly understand what on earth she was trying to imply from it. “Ah, a friend of Hyunjin’s then?” There was a teasing quality to her voice that managed to make Heejin’s heart bump unevenly in her chest. “It’s very nice to meet you – correct me if I’m wrong, but you must be Heejin-ssi?”_ _

__Startled, Heejin leant back from the counter and gripped at her phone in her pocket. “Yeah- how did you know?”_ _

__“Oh!” Eagerly, the bartender moved into the space where Heejin had been and reached out her hands as if to hold onto hers. “Hyunjin is elusive, for sure, but you are practically all she will talk about.” The girl looked up at the ceiling momentarily, as if thinking a little more on her words. “Well, that and if there’s any leftover pastries that will be thrown out, but mostly just you.”_ _

__Heejin was sure that the blush on her cheeks was visible and judging from the snort of amusement that came from Yerim behind her, this situation was at least entertaining someone._ _

__“Oh, I- thank you?” She wasn’t too sure how to respond to that._ _

__The bartender laughed airily, reaching out to nudge her arm familiarly. “There’s nothing to thank me for, it’s actually pretty endearing to listen to considering she usually refuses to say more than two words to Renjun or Kokoro – they’re the other employees who work here with us. Actually, I should be the one thanking you since you seem to really light up Hyunjin’s day – she barely ever smiles at the customers even though I try to encourage her to look more enthusiastic. Tell me, how do you do it? Is it the bread? What kind of bread do you buy to get her to talk? I've only tried with the fruit ones so far.”_ _

__Slightly overwhelmed by the onslaught of questions, Heejin felt herself relax her posture. “It’s not really the bread – try knowing her for almost five years and then maybe she’ll open up a little?”_ _

__Widening her eyes in a show of surprise, the girl openly stared at her. “Seriously? You guys must know each other really well then!” She rested her chin in the heel of her hand and fell into an almost dreamy trance. “I kinda wish I had something like that, ya know. Imagine someone knowing the ins and outs of your life… there for you every step of the way.” Heejin felt bitter sweetness in her mouth at her words, a more wistful grin appearing on her face now. “The longest friend I ever had was my childhood stuffed animal, but he got chewed up by the dog.”_ _

__“Dog? What breed?” Heejin found herself asking before she could really stop herself._ _

__“Oh! He’s a Dogue de Bordeaux!” The bartender pronounced the unfamiliar breed name with a seemingly fluent foreign accent that further caught Heejin off guard. “An ugly little thing, but I love him to death, really. Do you wanna see some pictures? He’s super photogenic and loves posing – he thinks he’s a model with how much I love taking pictures of him.”_ _

__Without waiting for a response, the girl was already distractedly reaching into the pocket of her red apron._ _

__Softly, the tapping on Heejin’s shoulder ceased when the latter turned around to meet Yerim’s amused gaze. “I’m going to get back to Yeojin now, I don’t want to leave her alone for too long.”_ _

__Realizing that she had been caught up in the excitement of the bartender’s personality, Heejin felt her heart jump in her throat. Anxiety was easy to rise inside of her lately. “Wait, I’ll go with you.” She spun back around to find the girl still scrolling enthusiastically through her gallery to find pictures of her dog. “Hey, I’m sorry to cut this meeting short, but it was very nice meeting you – hopefully we can meet again.”_ _

__Letting her shoulders drop in disappointment, the bartender placed the phone down on the counter with a small clatter and pouted her lower lip at her. “Oh okay, it was nice meeting you, Heejin.”_ _

__Feeling unreasonably guilty for having to leave so suddenly during their conversation, Heejin placed a reassuring hand on the girl’s and patted kindly. “If you want, you can ask Hyunjin for my number next time you see her, and then maybe all of us can meet up and get to know each other better.”_ _

__“Oh, that would be great!” The bartender perked up and boisterously bounced in place. “I’ll make sure to do that – please expect a text message coming from me soon.”_ _

__Grinning, Heejin began to turn to Yerim who was anxiously shifting her weight from foot to foot behind her. “What’s your name? So I can have something to save you under.”_ _

__“You could save me under ‘cute bartender goddess’.” The girl shot her a mischievous wink, her playful nature almost flustering Heejin. She had never really met anyone with as much vigour and energy packed up into one small body before, so she could safely say that she was a little stumped._ _

__Even her laugh sounded like it seeped sunshine._ _

__“You don’t have to, of course, I’m just joking.” Her beam toned down into a small, almost shy grin – a complete one-eighty from her outgoing personality just a second ago. “Save my name under Jiwoo.”_ _

__Heejin smiled at the warm tone._ _

__“Kim Jiwoo.”_ _

__

__-_ _

__

__Blood had grown to become a comfort food of sorts. It was ever-so-slightly viscous – yes, the texture was unique on her tongue when she pressed it to the roof of her mouth – and it always left the after taste of copper and iron in the back of her throat._ _

__But depending on how close the biological build-up of the blood was to that of a human’s, it could also be really good._ _

__She had never expected herself openly craving canisters of blood, yet every day she never forgot to have her daily dose. Her taste buds seemed to modify the usually bitter taste of blood (one that she had known as a human after she had run farther than her limit and her throat had become ragged) and made it so that it had an addictively sweet taste. It wasn’t teeth-rotting or sugar-high inducing, but it reminded her of the same taste that vanilla flavoured bread left in her mouth. It always left her craving for a little more even though she wasn’t hungry, and it scared her that she thought like this when she had once abhorred the taste of blood. But drinking blood every day became normalized to her, so that fear was dwindling._ _

__This, however, this was another thing entirely._ _

__Spitting out the ball of saliva that had formed in the back of her mouth, Hyunjin glared at the monster twitching morbidly on the ground._ _

__“Is it- is it dead?” The meek, high-pitched voice contrasted greatly from the previous machine-like whirs._ _

__The hellhound’s blood tasted like something that was trying to poison her. Her tongue was still tingling from where some of its blood had splattered onto her face when she had torn her hand into its throat to tear its vocal cords out. The effect wasn’t too dissimilar to eating a sour sweet, the tartaric acid tickling the surface of the tongue. Staleness numbed her tastes and bitterness followed after it._ _

__Since the incident at the research facility, there had been multiple cases of people dying to severe mutilation and extreme blood loss. Vivi and the remaining sanguisuges had realized that it was the hellhounds that had attacked the syndicate, and had been running rampant in populated areas. Ever since then, whenever there would be hints of an appearance of one of the monsters groups of minimum two sanguisuges would set out to put down the beasts before they could cause more harm and controversy to the sanguisuge name. Unfortunately for Hyunjin, when she had volunteered she hadn't been expecting Hyejoo to have done so too. (After all, the girl was mainly human and not sanguisuge like them.) Vivi had paired them up in the hopes of Hyunjin having a higher chance when fighting against the beasts._ _

__Little did she know, Hyunjin could handle them perfectly fine._ _

__“Yeah,” using her left hand to wipe at her face with the collar of her now ruined shirt, Hyunjin kicked at the limp body with the heel of her boot. “I’m pretty sure I absolutely decimated it with my bare hands.”_ _

__“You? I was the one that ripped half of its legs off – you just stole my kill.”_ _

__There it was. That annoying quip after any of her sentences._ _

__Feeling her ears twitch in irritation, Hyunjin looked towards where she had last seen Hyejoo tackling Chaewon to the floor. “I stole nothing, you were just too overly concerned for Chae and decided to dip.” Just as she had predicted, Hyejoo was lifting herself up from where she had been protectively cradling Chaewon’s curled up frame, her hair having fallen from its ponytail and spilling messily over her shoulders. She looked disgruntled with herself as she awkwardly moved over Chaewon, making sure not to touch her unnecessarily. “I just stuck my whole arm in that thing’s throat, you don’t really get to say anything after that.”_ _

__“Fuck you, you did nothing.” Hyejoo struggled to push the plastic cover that had been previously blanketing some construction site rubble and had fallen on them during the struggle. Just like her, there was small splatters of blood painting her forehead and a quickly forming bruise on the side of her mouth from where one of that thing’s paws had slammed into her face._ _

__“You want to try saying that to my face?” With her still bloody right arm, Hyunjin walked towards the kneeling girl._ _

__Scowling, Hyejoo pulled herself up with the support of the construction container beside her. “What? Can’t hear me from over there, hag?”_ _

__“Funny how you’re calling me a hag when-“_ _

__A small hand pressed itself in the center of her chest, stopping her from getting any nearer to her adversary. “Guys stop – why are you always trying to fight each other?”_ _

__Hyunjin looked down at Chaewon, who had a tuft of her hair that stuck so out of place she resembled a rooster. Her blonde hair was still unfamiliar to look at (Hyunjin preferred her black hair over the golden tone) but it glistened nicely in the afternoon light of the abandoned construction site. She looked incredibly small standing between them, what with the boots that Hyunjin was wearing increasing her height and Hyejoo's natural imposing height. Encircling her thin wrists were the electric shock cuffs that had yet to light up in the past three months she since she had put them on. Her entire appearance was coated with dirt and small spots of crimson – including the fluffy, pink jacket she had unwisely chosen to wear._ _

__It was slightly distracting to look at such a tiny, harmless girl trying to reprimand them._ _

__“She’s a skid mark, is why.” Hyunjin was still irritated, but she couldn’t help the corners of her mouth tug up a little at the subconscious pout on Chaewon’s lips._ _

__Preparing herself for a comeback, Hyunjin looked towards Hyejoo. For every one of her insults, there was always an equally fiery offence to be spat back at her. At first it had just been Hyejoo’s own volition and Hyunjin willingly taking all of her snide commentary, but eventually Hyunjin had just instinctively started returning the treatment as it came to her. There was even a small part of her that enjoyed getting to prod and poke at the girl that always loved to make it look like she was apathetic about everything, to the point where she even thought she was above them all. Perhaps Hyunjin considered it her duty to knock the girl off her stilt and bring her back down from whatever superiority she thought she was._ _

__Except Hyejoo was very distracted with the hand that had been pressed into her stomach, currently holding her back. Very intent on staring daggers at the small hand dirtying her white shirt, she most likely hadn’t even heard the comment._ _

__Her heartbeat is irregular, Hyunjin observed._ _

__“Please stop insulting each other – you both took down the hound together as a team, and it’s not even a competition anyway.” Despite the pink dusting her cheeks, Chaewon managed to look stern with her words. She had grown in confidence._ _

__Hyunjin narrowed her eyes at the still distracted Hyejoo._ _

__“Is-is that okay?” Chaewon squeaked when Hyunjin looked down at her with her yellow gaze, eyes averting elsewhere instantly._ _

__Realizing that she must have scared her, Hyunjin changed her eyes back to their normal brown color and stepped back as an obvious sign of surrender. “I still think that the person who took the final kill should be given the credit-“ At the irritated, warning glare from the small girl, Hyunjin immediately changed topic and moved away. “-but yes, I’ll hold back from saying stupid things as long as she does it too.”_ _

__Grimacing at the blood and other internal fluids drying on her right arm, Hyunjin instead took to searching for something to wipe the grime off. She had certainly not been planning on sticking her arm into a living thing when they set off that morning._ _

__“So? Are you going to stop?” Chaewon forgetfully still had her hand on Hyejoo’s stomach as she turned to face the younger girl, but there was a stricter quality to her voice as she addressed her. Almost as if she were annoyed at her for trying to provoke Hyunjin._ _

__Hyejoo’s hum rumbled from her throat, Hyunjin’s ears perking up at the sound. “Pretty high expectations you have there, babe.”_ _

__Hyunjin scraped off as much blood with part of a broken plastic bucket, using it in a similar manner to how Romans would use ‘stigrils’ before they bathed. (She had been reading some of the literature from Jinsoul’s study, seeing as she seemed to have a lot of collections relating to those times. It wasn't a secret that she loved Latin literature over everything else.) It wasn’t the first time she had heard Hyejoo refer to Chaewon as ‘babe’, but she pretty quickly caught onto the notion that it was supposed to annoy the blonde more than anything. If anything, Hyunjin was slightly amused at Hyejoo's teasing method._ _

__She wasn’t looking, but she could hear Chaewon’s sneakers scuffing on the rubble as she got closer to Hyejoo. “I told you not to call me that.” The whispers didn’t go unheard to Hyunjin, who’s hearing was attuned to the quiet of the construction site._ _

__It seemed like Chaewon often forgot her abilities as a sanguisuge._ _

__Something in Hyejoo seemed to snap, and then she was slapping at Chaewon’s hand that had been on her stomach with her trademark scowl on her face and looking unnecessarily angry. “Don’t be conceited – you don’t have to worry about me catching feelings for you when you’re just trash.”_ _

__Curiously, Hyunjin stopped what she was doing and watched the interaction. She could still hear Hyejoo’s heartbeat pounding away in her chest, but the hormones she was exuding were drastically different to the ones just a few seconds ago._ _

__Over the past couple of months (that they had unfortunately spent together) Hyunjin had learnt to attune her senses to the hormones people exuded, and then associated them to emotions. Each hormone that was released would smell slightly different. The scent was faint, and easy to miss if she didn't concentrate hard enough, but once she familiarized herself with it once she would be able to catch it the next time. Similar to how each person had their own, unique smell. Vivi had said that it would take some time before she could accurately depict what someone was feeling, but that she wasn’t too bad at it. After all, she had been taught by the most notorious sanguisuge several months ago._ _

__It still ached to think about._ _

__There would be times when Hyejoo’s atmosphere would change almost radically – as if she were a completely different person – and along with it, her behaviour too. Usually it would happen whenever Chaewon was around, or if Hyunjin was particularly insensitive wiht one of her insults._ _

__She and Hyejoo didn’t talk – at least not in a way that was serious, civil conversation – but Chaewon told her how deities worked._ _

__Like a house guest, they would sit in one's body and observe from the safety of their 'headspace', which was the cut off point between the human consciousness and the deity's. Sometimes they would come charging out of the corner of the mind and pilot the body, commanding it to do whatever they pleased as if they were the actual person. Other times, they would be spectating in a first-person perspective, able to see what the host was doing if they so wished. If they were feeling particularly displeased, then they'd say it and the host would be able to hear it like a voice in their head. Chaewon said that currently, Gowon was doing neither of those and had hidden herself somewhere in Chaewon’s subconsciousness. That she hadn’t come out ever since the last time she had completely ejected Chaewon from her mind and done all of those horrible things._ _

__When Hyunjin asked if this was the same for Hyejoo, Chaewon immediately made it very clear to her that their situations were different._ _

__'Completely', the girl had said._ _

__Hyejoo (according to Chaewon) was in complete control of her own consciousness and the deity that was inhabiting her body was merely someone that was there. The deity – Olivia, is what Chaewon had called her – was much more placid than Gowon, and she seemed to be complacent in sharing responsibilities with Hyejoo. The way that Chaewon knew that was because they had met in Gowon's headspace during the heist several months ago, and she had conversed with the deity without confrontation. Olivia had never once tried to rush out and ambush Hyejoo’s consciousness, and she seemed to respect the lines between what was acceptable and what was immoral. It was almost like the human and deity were friends._ _

__If that was so, then why was Hyejoo’s atmosphere changing so erratically?_ _

__Hyunjin’s yellow eyes scanned Hyejoo’s appearance: not much could be seen beneath the oversized bomber jacket and the loose white shirt, and her legs were always covered by some form of black pants. Her skin color was still rather pale, and her hair color was the same dark it had always been._ _

__There were no visible triggers that provided evidence of Olivia trying to take over._ _

__“Y-you don’t have to- I’m not- you don’t have to call me trash.” Chaewon’s voice trembled. "I-I-I never did anything that called for that?"_ _

__“Yeah, well-“_ _

__Narrowing her eyes, Hyunjin observed as the words got caught in Hyejoo’s throat._ _

__Literally._ _

__She hadn’t really payed much attention to it before because the girl had always worn it, but the choker that hugged the column of Hyejoo’s neck seemed to be a little too tight to be comfortable. It squeezed her skin visibly, and squeezed like it was alive. As if it had physically stopped her from saying anything else that she would regret. But that didn’t make sense, because Hyejoo said whatever she pleased without fear of repercussion, no matter if it hurt the person on the receiving end. (It's what made bickering with her so fun.) So maybe it wasn’t really triggered by what Hyejoo was saying, but rather by something else._ _

__A slow, satisfied chill spread through Hyunjin’s spine as the epiphany settled over her._ _

__Olivia was trying to gain control of her consciousness, and the choker tightening on Hyejoo’s neck was supposed to stop her from doing just that._ _

__"I'm..." Regretfully, Hyejoo bowed her head and rubbed at her neck with her unsteady fingers. “You’re not as trash as Miss Leech over there is, so I’d say you're still good.” Her eyes flittered to Chaewon’s face to check her mood._ _

__The discovery had cheered Hyunjin up considerably, so she refrained from throwing an insult back at Hyejoo and instead tossed the now dirty bucket piece several yards away from where they were standing. She didn’t want to use that piece of information against Hyejoo just yet. Maybe she would wait for a better moment to bring it up, and then maybe she’d stop being so big-headed. (Or maybe she could ask her why she was doing something that could have the potential to kill her, and tell her to look for another way.)_ _

__Chaewon scoffed quietly, her hands that had curled around the sleeves of her fluffy jacket coming up to discretely wipe at her face. “Screw you, Hyejoo.”_ _

__Hyunjin watched as the small girl stormed past her, her blonde hair shielding her face from view. She wasn't stupid enough not to notice the sniffles coming from her direction, and the tears that fell despite her attempts to stop them. But she knew that if she tried talking to Chaewon when she had just recently been hurt it would be more counter-productive, and instead of helping she'd be making the problem worse. So she let her storm away to the path near the mountains that they had taken so that they wouldn't have to walk around with blood lathered all over them once they finished._ _

__When she turned to look at Hyejoo, she saw the girl pale-faced and grimacing. Her fingers were barely hooked on the edge of the choker to alleviate the pressure, though her dark eyes followed after the blonde girl._ _

__As they made eye contact, Hyejoo seemed to remember her existence. “What are you looking at, Bloodsucker?”_ _

__“A piece of shit, apparently.” Hyunjin shrugged nonchalantly, before jumping away when she saw the ball of dark energy hurtling to where she had been standing._ _

__Narrowing their eyes at one another, pieces of dust and bricks fell around them. One barely missed Hyunjin, landing just beside her._ _

__Almost simultaneously, they lifted their hands and flipped each other off._ _

__

__-_ _

__

__Heejin stared at the tall ceiling._ _

__The encounter from earlier on in the day was still plaguing her mind even after she had tried distracting herself from it by reading through emails and making a couple of calls. It was like a parasite that refused to leave her alone, triggered every time she let her thoughts wander too far._ _

__Ever since the moment Ha Sooyoung had stepped into her life, her life had been a constant living nightmare._ _

__Waking up in a cold sweat from one of the dreams she'd had showing her the image of the dead bodies she'd seen, only to be greeted with a text message from the unsaved number she now memorized as Sooyoung's. Reminders that they were sisters and that her titles could be stripped away by that mere fact. Not being able to eat peacefully with lawyers knocking at her door, just to tell her that she would have to meet up with Sooyoung's father at one point to discuss 'business' regarding her mother. Being disturbed in the safety of her own apartment that she had grown up in, by some men sent by the Has to remind her that the will had said the rights had been left to their first daughter, but Heejin was only the second._ _

__She couldn’t even step into the hospital room again after that._ _

__Not when looking at her mother’s unconscious face just reminded her of the horrible girl who was supposed to be her only other living family._ _

__Dragging her hands down her face hard enough for white spots to erupt on the back of her eyelids, Heejin held back the tears threatening to rise. She pressed down hard on her mouth to muffle her frustrated scream. Despite her obvious torment, she wasn’t going to disrupt other people’s evenings when she was just a guest in their home. Or mansion._ _

__The familiar scent filled her nostrils as she inhaled deeply, immediately calming the nerves that had sprouted like unwanted wildflowers._ _

__Hyunjin’s clothes always smelt like fabric softener and the sweet shampoo that she used. A mixture of carefully concocted flora and saccharine scents that made one prisoner to the bed. It was easy for her to get lost in when it reminded her of the pair of arms that would hold her during her times of distress, and of the faint kisses that Hyunjin thought she secretively pressed into her hair (Heejin counted every one of them), and of the girl that she was very much in love with doing everything she could to remind her she loved her back. The scent wasn’t overwhelming. It danced on the surface of bedsheets and clothes and soft skin. It was the memories that swept her up and spun her around._ _

__Before she had realized it, Heejin had turned to lay on her side and pressed her face into the bed. Her heart was leaping anxiously in her chest. Her breaths were short, unsteady puffs. Her thoughts were toxic and venomous._ _

__“Heejin.”_ _

__The white, wooden door flew from its frame to slam loudly against the wall. A breeze created by the abrupt movement washed over Heejin’s body._ _

__Jumping at the sound and abrupt entrance, Heejin shot up from her place on the bed and lunged out to grab at the nearest object she could grab: the idle lamp on the bedside table._ _

__“Hey, steady.” Hyunjin recovered first, her amber eyes melting into brown as she agilely began to walk over to her. Her hands were outstretched ever-so-slightly, as if she were subconsciously reaching out because she needed to comfort her rather than as a precaution to protect herself against Heejin’s possible attack. “It’s just me – what’s wrong?”_ _

__Blinking to herself, Heejin placed the lamp back onto the surface of the table._ _

__She had moved on instinct. Almost as if she had expected an attack to come to her. Like she expected Hyunjin to attack her._ _

__“Sorry, I…” Heejin trailed off as her eyes traced the surface of her hands. Around her wrists were the scars that left carefully placed bracelts, from where she'd spent hours tugging against harsh restraints and unknowingly cutting deeper into the flesh there. Tattooed there to remind her of her time in captivity. The red coating her hands was vivid in the forefront of her mind and the sticky sensation she could still remember so wildly making her stomach sway from nausea. Instinctively, she picked at her fingernails as if it would get the non-existent grime out. Even if it wasn’t there, the motion of doing it made her feel a little steadier. Maybe if she rubbed hard enough, then she wouldn’t be haunted by the scarlets and the crimsons. By the image of life leaving a body in her arms._ _

__Hands covered the sides of her face._ _

__The blood rushing in her hears was muffled by the soft pressure._ _

__“Hey, look at me,” Hyunjin said, lips tracing words on the skin on her forehead from how close she was leaning into her, “it’s just me, okay? I’m sorry for scaring you.”_ _

__Exhaling deeply, Heejin felt herself lean into the warm lips and close her eyes. The pressure that had warped her brain began to unravel slowly, her temples losing the tension coiled there. Warmth contrasted with the cool headache that had furtively captured her mind._ _

__“Sorry, I didn’t mean to react like that.” Her voice was small, but deeply apollogetic._ _

__Heejin reached up to wrap her arms around Hyunjin’s familiar frame, wanting to feel the comfort that her body provided. When she felt the bare skin there, she leaned away to look at Hyunjin’s appearance._ _

__“Why are you only wearing a towel?” Warm faced, Heejin watched as Hyunjin pulled back to stand at her full height and use the hand that wasn’t holding onto Heejin’s to timidly check that her towel was still in place. The towel covered her from just below her collarbones to the middle of her thighs, which Heejin's eyes couldn't help but stall on as she noted how firm they looked. Her wet hair was pushed back to reveal her beautiful face that wore sheepish surprise. Several truant strands of black hair gripped onto the damp skin of her shoulders and collarbones, as if purposefully drawing her attention there._ _

__“Well I heard you scream, and then your heartbeat was really quick and your breaths weren’t normal, so I thought you were in trouble.” As if only realizing now how she must have looked, Hyunjin crossed her free arm over herself and gripped onto her opposite shoulder. Very faintly, Heejin thought she saw her blush. “I didn’t really… think to get changed.”_ _

__A grin had found a place on Heejin’s face. Her free hand distractedly rubbed at Hyunjin’s flat stomach, a small habit she had developed once she noticed it relaxed the other girl. “You’re cute.”_ _

__Hyunjin rolled her eyes, shuffling closer to her and entwining their fingers. “How lovely of you to point out,” the sarcasm dripping from her voice made a small laugh jump from Heejin’s lips, “but seeing as you’re back to being your usual, irritating self, then I guess I can disappear for a couple of seconds so I can actually get changed?”_ _

__Despite the anxiety lingering beneath the waters of her mind, it was easy to ignore it when a beautiful girl was squinting her eyes teasingly at her, with that affectionate smile on her face that made her heart jump and her stomach flutter with butterflies._ _

__“Okay, but don’t take too long.” Heejin squinted her eyes back at her, smiling in spite of herself._ _

__Hyunjin leaned down into her space to brush her lips very briefly against her cheek, warm breath heating her skin. “Time me, I’ll only take five seconds.”_ _

__Not paying any mind the goosebumps that rose on her body, Heejin softly nudged their faces together and let her lips press on her jaw. “Stop abusing your superpowers,” she mischievously grinned up at the girl retreating to start her race, “it’s not as hot as you think it is.”_ _

__Hyunjin raised an eyebrow. Her gaze was fiery, in the sense that Heejin could feel herself become alight from the intensity behind her brown eyes, making her shift nervously on the bed. Without another word, Hyunjin raised her hand to Heejin’s face and flicked her forehead._ _

__“Hey!” Heejin hopped up from the bed, her hair ruffling from the air being suctioned from where Hyunjin had previously been standing. She held the sore space on her forehead. It had always been something that Hyunjin did to her whenever she was feeling a little too overwhelmed – even when they were in high school and it had just been as simple as Heejin staring at her too long in class. Unknowingly, it had also become her favorite thing._ _

__As promised, not even ten seconds later Hyunjin was back._ _

__And she made sure Heejin knew it by tackling her onto the bed._ _

__“That-“ Her breath had been knocked out of her lungs on impact, but she still found her muscles contracting as she laughed. “-that was more than five seconds!”_ _

__Hyunjin bit very lightly at the side of her torso with her teeth, pulling at the skin there. (She had learnt how to control her fangs by now, though occassionally they'd make a surprise appearance whenever Hyunjin had forgotten to eat that day and they were in the middle of making out.) Heejin shoved at her shoulders, fingers catching in the wet strands of hair. Whipping her head back, Hyunjin scrambled further up the bed, making Heejin’s body toss and turn as if she were being swept away by waves as the mattress shifted below Hyunjin's weight. Heejin scrunched her face when Hyunjin leaned in, the latter’s blunt teeth bared as she playfully pretended to bite at her nose. She giggled, hands gripping onto the tight tank top._ _

__One of Hyunjin's hands held onto her waist while she used the other to prop herself up with her elbow, her wet hair falling over her shoulder and grazing across Heejin's skin. “That was three – not even five seconds.” She said as Heejin weaved her hand under her hair to push it back over her shoulder._ _

__“I counted seven.” Heejin finished tucking her hair behind her back, distractedly playing with the small curls that formed behind Hyunjin’s ear. (The short baby hairs were always the first to dry, and Heejin had taken to curling them around her fingers whenever she had the chance. Hyunjin always found it relaxing.) “Your superpowers aren’t really that impressive.”_ _

__Hyunjin narrowed her eyes at her, a soft growl on the back of her throat. “It was three.”_ _

__Just as she had expected, if she poked at Hyunjin’s pride then it was easy to get a reaction out of her. And the thing she was always most prideful of was her physical abilities. Which admittedly, were actually really impressive. Heejin had always fantasized over them even before Hyunjin had been turned into a sanguisuge, but now that the girl liked to naturally lift her like she weighed nothing, or run from one end of the estate to the other in a matter of seconds, Heejin was always left a little flustered._ _

__But part of the game was pretending like she didn’t care for them._ _

__At the lack of reaction, Hyunjin let out an instinctive whine and pulled away from Heejin. “It was three seconds, you’re just stupid so you didn’t count well enough.”_ _

__Heejin’s eyebrows shot to her hairline, letting her hand come to rest on her shoulder insead. “Did you call me ‘stupid’?”_ _

__“Well if you don’t know how to count, what else am I meant to call you?” Hyunjin shot back, shrugging off Heejin._ _

__Sensing that she had somehow managed to offend her, Heejin laughed softly. It was always easy to annoy her, even if she liked to hide it with muted reactions. So as an apology, she leant up to wrap her arms around her frame. “How about you call me ‘yours’?”_ _

__Her face was burning as she pronounced the words. She couldn’t bare to look Hyunjin in the eye while she waited for a reaction, instead clinging to her frame and hanging onto her like a koala. They had both agreed to take their relationship slow after everything that had happened, what with the events having significant effects on them. For the past three months they had danced the line between best friends and something else. It had always left Heejin craving more, but the anxiety and trauma held her back. There had been many things that she had to sort through before she could even consider getting into a relationship, and the panic attacks that were fortunately becoming less frequent were still an issue._ _

__But the happiness she felt whenever she was with Hyunjin – the freedom that let her breathe properly and forget about all of her troubles – it made her realize that it didn’t matter when, but they would always inevitably end up together._ _

__She wished she had Hyunjin’s ability to hear everything._ _

__Was Hyunjin’s heart beating as fast as hers?_ _

__Was she as nervous as she was?_ _

__Lips pressed warmly on her shoulder, and then on her collarbone, and then wandering up the length of her neck until Hyunjin was pulling her away from her and looking down at her. Looking at her with the warmest eyes Heejin had ever seen, pouring out tangible adoration that made her heart stop momentarily._ _

__Heejin practically melted in her arms._ _

__“Now why would I do that?” Hyunjin wrinkled her nose in disgust. “That would guarantee you playing down my awesomeness every single day, for the rest of our lives. Who could want that?”_ _

__Heejin stared blankly at her._ _

__Was she-_ _

__“Are you serious?” Her chest was clenching painfully._ _

__“Yeah! You don’t even think that my powers are cool even though they’re like, the best part of me.” Hyunjin’s voice was light, as if her words were not a big deal. “Shouldn’t my girlfriend – the love of my life – appreciate what I think are my best qualities? You don't seem to be doing that.”_ _

__They stared at each other, Heejin trying to guage if she was serious and Hyunjin biting at her lips._ _

__Eventually, the latter couldn't seem to hold it in because she was bursting out with laughter that shook her entire body, the vibrations spreading through to Heejin's own. She sounded so jovial and happy to be alive. Which usually, Heejin would be fawning over and trying to remember this moment for the rest of her life. Except not right now._ _

__Heejin slapped Hyunjin’s shoulder as hard a she could, suddenly wanting to be no where near the other girl. “You’re a fucking idiot.” She ignored Hyunjin laughing like she was the funniest person alive. “Why would you joke like that?”_ _

__Still chuckling, Hyunjin leaned in to press a kiss to her lips. Heejin turned her head to avoid it, feeling it on her cheek. “Hey, come on,” she brought up her hand to try to grab her chin, but Heejin stubbornly buried the side of her face into the bedsheets, “you know that I’ve been in love with you since the day we met – I have literally not even thought about anyone but you for the past five years.”_ _

__Still feeling the bitterness in her chest, Heejin stared blankly at the yellow sheets._ _

__“Are you ignoring me?”_ _

__She didn’t even know why she fell in love with the dumbass._ _

__“Will you at least look at me?”_ _

__She was literally the most annoying person she had ever met – what had possessed her to give her heart away to a person like that?_ _

__“Baby, please…”_ _

__No, not even if she called her that, would Heejin give her what she wanted._ _

__“Oh, you like it when I call you that?”_ _

__No, I don’t._ _

__“Heejin, your ears are literally on fire and I can hear your heartbeat.”_ _

__“That’s cheating and you know it.” Heejin scowled, turning her head to glare at the stupid girl on top of her. She was ready to breate her for the next hour for playing with her emotions like that, and maybe withdraw any skinship privileges for a week._ _

__However, whatever she had been about to say was cut off by a pair of lips clumsily crushing onto hers. Reflexively, Heejin’s hands weaved around Hyunjin’s back to hold her closer. In return, Hyunjin gently coaxed her mouth to relax from its frustrated pout, as if desperate to make it up to her without any words. They had done this dance so many times that she already knew when to angle her head to deepen the kiss, or when the shy hands would gain confidence and touch her skin. She always loved it when Hyunjin traced symbols and letters on her back, and she had told her that before. It seemed like she was doing her best to make her feel better because that was all she was doing as she kissed her senseless._ _

__When Hyunjin leant back with a soft grin, she couldn’t help but smile back, her previous anger wiped away._ _

__“Tell you what,” Hyunjin bumped her nose against her chin lovingly, her smile pressing against her skin at her neck as she cuddled closer. “I’ll call you mine, but only if you call me yours.”_ _

__Heejin had never felt safer._ _

__“Deal.”_ _


	3. three

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_Jinsol hadn’t stopped trembling since consciousness decided to fall upon her. She could feel herself swaying precariously on her feet, her mind just barely present as she let her eyes flicker and flutter._

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Hollow voices kept ringing out in the underwater atmosphere she felt herself floating in. Her weight felt buoyant and her lungs were full of something – something but it wasn’t air because it was suffocating her from within and it wouldn’t let her breathe even if she had wanted to. Fortunately, she didn’t. Didn’t want to allow herself the air to feel the jittering ache scattering throughout her limbs, nor the pulsing sensation at her neck. It was all too much for her brain to handle at once and her body knew because she wasn’t breathing normal.

Something moved in front of her.

Oh, the floor was cold. That was strange, she’d always been familiar with the warm hardwood of her home, heated by the furnaces her father and brothers worked with. This strange texture beneath her bare palms had been one she’d only ever dreamt to touch, spoken between those that had the pleasantries of luxuries and wealth.

Since when had she sat down? She didn’t remember but at the same time, didn’t really care.

Her vision shifted once more, taking a moment to calibrate from its blurry state before refocusing on a tall ceiling looming over her, waiting for her to turn back over. Or she assumed it was a ceiling – could she be floating underwater and staring at the bottom of a large bath? She certainly felt like that was what was happening. Even her chest had stopped moving. Maybe because she shouldn’t be inhaling water. Mother always said it was bad.

Pain blossomed from somewhere in her body. Her stomach? Or maybe her ribs? Wherever it had come from, it barely registered in her mind.

Claws grabbed at her jaw and jerked her head.

She met the eyes of the most frightening creature she’d ever thought she’d meet, and once more she was made aware of the constant throbbing that pulsated at her neck. The muted red was enough to send her body jerking back.

Pathetically, Jinsol scuttled along the smooth stone floor, raw fingernails burning as they pressed down on the surface. Someone was shouting – screaming in distress. Not unlike how there had been screams when she’d woken in the night, clutching onto her four-year-old brother and holding him to her chest. Or when her brothers and sisters had done when they were devoured before her very eyes, pleads for mercy garbled as blood spilled from their once innocent lips.

The monster swept its hands over the long, black dress clothing it and threw its head back.

Jinsol couldn’t tear her previously unfocused eyes away from the moving mouth. Where lips were stained a rich red and distressingly sharp teeth were drawn from murderous jaws.

A surge of bitterness clouded Jinsol’s senses as she watched the predator with alert eyes. In her throat was a bile that stung at her taste buds and crippled her senses. How could something so morbid – so utterly vile and repulsive – be disguised so deceivingly as the near epitome of enchantment and beauty? Of course, no one would suspect a thing when entertained with this vision. How could they when this was possibly the best thing that had graced the small, poor town in the past several lifetimes? It only made sense that the village men invited the object of their fascinations into their homes and put the innocent lives of women and children in danger.

But Jinsol should have listened better to the stories of her little girls: beauty was often evil in disguise.

The monster settled its reddish eyes on her once more (she cowered uselessly in her blood-stained dress) before discarding them elsewhere with seeming disdain. Not that Jinsol assumed for one moment that creatures as evil as this one could ever feel a range of the emotions that she or her now dead family could feel. No, the only thing this monster felt was bloodlust and sick pleasure.

The voices returned, and with it a hint of Jinsol’s senses.

“I’m bored of her.” The thing said with a dull tone, tongue flicking out between the two strident fangs to catch the moisture on her lips. “She isn’t very right in the head to play right now.”

It would have been a beautiful dress; had it been worn by anyone else. Jinsol saw the way it spun out so captivatingly, as if attempting to draw her in by the chin and fall once more into the jaws of the trap. A trap carefully set by the predator, waiting with impatient eyes and a thirst for death as the prey danced towards it. The way it shone beneath the silver moonlight would have had her crying over the quality of the materials and the richness in colour, begging for a chance to touch something of its calibre for the first time in her life. Yet it had to have been spoiled by the thing playing pretend as if it were one of them. As if it were anything but the sickening being speaking to the other person in the room.

Jinsol watched with dead eyes as it dragged one of its fingers down a girl’s face.

She had stepped out from the shadows as if it parting through silk curtains, and Jinsol wondered if she had been there the entire time.

Confusion seized her when the girl – who couldn’t have been any older than she was – invitingly leant into the touch as if it were a blessing. Eyelids hooding a dark gaze and lips parting ever so softly. Not a trace of fear nor disgust when the finger dragged down the length of her neck and between her breasts.

As if she were pleased by the attention. Wanted it.

She was pulled even further into endless pools of perplexity when the monster, with the appearance of a young woman, leant into the girl’s space with a red tongue showing through her blood-stained teeth. Jinsoul almost feared that she would have to watch another life be devoured in front of her very eyes. That her nightmares had yet to halt. But when the girl reciprocated the attention by pressing their mouths together in a less than modest kiss (as Jinsol had witnessed between her parents when she was younger) she found herself fearing more for her own life.

Never had she witnessed two women showing affection that should have only been between a man and a woman. Only acts of hand holding between friends, or the occasional hug during parting or welcoming. Nevertheless, a man-eating monster partaking in a romantic act such as kissing.

Though Jinsol doubted the act to be romantic – rather sexual, in the way their bodies seemed to interact.

It was wrong.

Her parents had raised her with the normal beliefs that she should wait until her marriage with one of the men in town until she let herself be deflowered. To wait until she was courted by the town blacksmith’s son before she even dared to imagine such sinful and impure thoughts. A lady should protect her innocence with her own life if she must, and that was what Jinsol had been doing just as her parents expected her to. She would not be allowed to go to the parts of town where tainted women liked to play temptress and drag married men into their beds. Nor would she be allowed out late past sunset. That was the job of her oldest unmarried brother – or if they must, the second oldest brother.

These two women were sinners, Jinsol told herself. Though she didn’t need to see them kissing to know.

An obscene sound left the girl’s mouth as the monster ran her tongue inside her mouth before parting with a sharp grin.

When the girl’s eyes opened, Jinsol screamed.

Fear froze the blood in her veins and her already ragged breaths caught in her throat. She couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal that surged through her. She had looked just like a human…

Successfully having caught their attention, the two turned their heads to look at her. The monster’s faintly red eyes wandered over her appearance curiously whereas the girl – the other monster – was still caught with the attention she received from the kiss.

“She’s of no use to me like this,” it spoke as if Jinsol weren’t in the room, practically purring to the other girl in the meantime, “I will gift her to you. A little present for you~ I know how much you demons worship hedonism…”

The words seemingly snapped the other girl out of her trance, glee being captured on her features by a small tug of the mouth. “For me?” She sang it lowly. Despite her previous enraptured state, all of her attention was redirected to Jinsol at those words, who sat paralyzed on the stone floors unable to move. The black eyes danced over her appearance as if hungry – not fed in a long time and was presented with the opportunity to satiate that need. For what, Jinsol didn’t know. “You shouldn’t have…”

A wide grin grew on the monster’s face, fangs pulling back from their extended position. “Have fun~”

Jinsol thought she would have felt better with the monster gone – without the creature that had killed her baby sisters and brothers in front of her very eyes, forcing her to watch. Maybe if it was gone, then she’d be able to escape this place and never return again. Hopefully she’d be able to go get some help and try to get authorities to report what had happened. Then there would be justice for the deaths of her loved ones – her mother wouldn’t die in vain when she had placed herself between them and the monsters.

But when the girl pranced towards her, deceivingly kind smile on her admittedly beautiful face, Jinsol felt all of her hopes incinerate before her.

There would be no help. Her entire village had burnt to the ground. All the men had been slaughtered in their plight.

She flinched away from the hand that cupped her face, her scream refusing to come out of her throat.

“My first human,” the girl sounded absolutely delighted with herself, as if the thought of owning a human had been one of her goals in life. Instead of goals like having a beautiful family, or getting to buy land instead of sharing it with one’s family. “MJ said humans are fragile, so I better treat you well – you can’t die when I have so much planned for us…”

Jinsol felt herself sob when she couldn’t move away from the strong grip holding her still. No matter how hard she jerked and strained, the claws kept her at bay. She feared for her life when a warm breath brushed over the expanse of her wounded neck, the memories of the same thing happening before playing out in her head. She didn’t know what was happening when something hot and wet touched the lobe of her ear. Didn’t know what else to do but jolt her head away from the sensation and cry harder.

The grip on the back of her neck squeezed before loosening to an almost comforting pressure. Nothing like the predatory hold it had been just seconds ago.

“Ah… I don’t know much about you mortals,” the girl admitted, almost sounding like Jinsol’s six-year-old sister when she had told her she didn’t know how to sew her dress back together, “but you are not supposed to… weep like this.”

Her voice was gentle, and her eyes were the blackest Jinsol had ever looked into. But there was something in the way she seemed so unfamiliar with Jinsol’s reactions that relayed innocence. Like she had no idea what was going on and Jinsol was just some strange being she had encountered. Almost like the scales were even; Jinsol had no idea what this girl was.

“Hm… my first human and it’s broken.” She sounded so disappointed, talking as if she’d been given the worst ripped up stuffed animal out of the bunch. “But I cannot ask for a replacement. I guess I will have to fix you, then.”

Jinsol wanted to scream. She wanted to say that she wasn’t something to be ‘fixed’. She wasn’t some toy that she could just use whenever she wanted. But nothing was coming out of her trembling body.

“My name is Kim Lip.”

Jinsol blinked. She looked at the girl in front of her, how her dark eyes had become brown like any other normal person’s and thought that this almost felt like she was meeting a new friend on the streets. That if she prayed hard enough, this would just be an encounter with the prettiest girl in the village and they were becoming friends.

She almost had it. Almost imagined that Kim Lip was a normal human being.

Kim Lip leaned into her face and Jinsol could feel hers inexplicably warm. “You’ll need it for later, when it’s all you’ll be able to scream.” __

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-

Jungeun paced anxiously, fingers wringing the leather between her hands as if it were a stress toy that she could take her nerves out on.

“Lippie, bro, you need to chill out,” MJ laughed airily from where he and Jaehyun were lounging atop a tree. From the way that the yellow light of the bright day was tactically falling through the leaves to illuminate them and how they were lazily lounging against the weaving trunk of the tree, Jungeun would have thought the imagery to be one straight out of a magazine. “You look like you’re about to shit your pants.”

Of course, despite his handsome features MJ always managed to somehow ruin them whenever he opened his mouth.

Jaehyun snorted, almost dropping the small spirit he had been tossing up and down like a ball from the minor distraction. “You should have seen her when she was about to get her face eaten by the hellhounds – her face was fucking hilarious.” He laughed at her expense, tail swinging like an over-excited dog.

“Ooh, can you mind-link me your memory?”

Rolling her eyes, Jungeun ignored them in favour of looking worriedly in the direction of the quiet girl staring across the vast lake.

The ride that MJ had promised had been an unpleasant trip on the back of a chariot, guided by the horse-like spirits that had swam through the air as if it were water. When Jungeun had seen them, she was immediately brought back to the time Jaehyun and MJ had convinced her to take part in a race against other demons. Evidently there were some issues with the chariot: there were no seatbelts to keep them strapped in, and no doors stop them from falling out whenever the spirits decided they wanted to jostle distractedly. Never mind the fact that the winds always hit their faces so insistently that Jungeun had to seize the hood of her cloak to keep it from blowing back when they rode them this time.

The only thing that had kept Jungeun from losing it was that MJ had brought them a change of clothes so that they could cover up, seeing as Jaehyun hadn’t really served his use in that area.

Demons had begun taking interest in fashion a little after Jungeun left, MJ had said. The sudden influx of mortals flooding into the middle plain had been too much to handle for the usual spirits that would take care of them, and lower ranking demons had been sent by the Boss to help out. Not long after, demons had begun to let themselves be influenced by the tastes of those mortals. High-ranking demons began to dress themselves in rich fabrics and materials as a display of their power along with their other accessories, and it had only been natural for the lower-ranking ones to follow in their footsteps. Just like in the lower-plain, it was a constant race within their culture to see who would wear the next best thing. Now, it was normal for demons to be dressed in well-designed clothing.

To say that Jungeun was surprised about the change in her original culture would be an understatement. The last time she had left, demons had still thought of mortals as some minor inconvenience they could use to their own interest and had done so freely. It appeared as if things were still the same, but they were just taking their things for themselves now.

One thing for certain: MJ had taken an interest in fashion, if the beautiful red dress he’d presented her with showed anything. It displayed just the right amount of skin and fit tight almost perfectly at the waist with a black leather corset.

He himself had taken to dress in a loose black blazer jacket, open at the front to display the thin piece of fabric that represented his shirt. The muscles at his chest stood out almost as proudly as Jaehyun’s, who wasn’t wearing a shirt. He had always been the oldest out of the three of them, so it was only natural that he also be the strongest.

“Lip what are you so scared of? It is literally just a human.” MJ called from where he had finished laughing his ass off with Jaehyun over the latter’s memory. On his face was a confused grin, which meant that he was genuinely puzzled as to why Jungeun was hesitating so much. “Actually, last I remember you left the middle plain promising that you’d bring one back and you have! Well done!”

“Shut up,” Jungeun hissed, glancing at Jinsol to see if she had heard anything. The last thing she wanted was Jinsol being reminded of how horrible she had been when they had first met.

At her reaction, MJ cackled loudly and slapped his knee. “Hell, Lip, if you weren’t a demon, I’d say you’re scared of the mortal.”

Scoffing, Jungeun looked at Jinsol and let herself ponder. It wasn’t that she was afraid. In spite of all of the fights and battles, and scars and wounds inflicted by the human, Jungeun didn’t fear her. No, there was something else.

Jaehyun had been watching the interaction quietly with a small, amused smile on his face, absentmindedly squeezing the small spirit in his hand so it squeaked quietly every time. “Don’t tease her now, MJ – you don’t have it quite right,” he threw a knowing look towards the yellow horned demon, though there was mischief colouring every syllable in his sentence when he continued to speak. “She’s not scared of her – she’s in love. Deeply so.” He said it so exaggeratedly that his upper body lurched forward from the trunk of the angled tree, small spirit escaping his grip to flutter around him.

MJ’s eyes widened immediately at his words. He looked between Jaehyun and Jungeun to see their expressions only to finally let them focus on Jungeun. She was trying her best to remain confident in the face of his outrage, chin tilted high and expression nonchalant.

“’In love’?” Even if Jungeun hadn’t seen him in centuries, she could still clearly read the bewilderment and mild concern that hid itself in the slight crease on his brow. He had always been too expressive for his own good. “I’m pretty sure that we can have sex with humans but falling in love? Demons don’t ‘fall in love’, we’re sexual creatures not sentimental mortals. Lip, please don’t tell me that this is true…”

Every one of his words dug deeper into Jungeun’s chest, like a blade with poison at the tip that spread a tangible prickle. Reminding her of what she was and where she had come from no matter how much she wanted to ignore that part of her.

MJ had always been so unforgiving with his delivery.

She tried to understand that this was just the culture of demons speaking and that at one point she had recited the exact same speech. Had worshipped the words as if they had come out from holy books and stood by them in terse solidarity. But after going through a mental war against her will and upbringing that had almost taken the life out of her, it pained her to be told that it was all for naught. Especially when she had learnt to cherish the emotions festering within her.

Jaehyun picked up on her mood immediately. His tail swung restlessly below him as he shifted in place. “It’s different for Lippie, she’s been down there since forever.” Reluctance could be heard in his excuse, the words difficult for him to bite out despite his good intentions.

Mulling carefully, MJ’s posture relaxed in the slightest of fractions. “That would make sense…” His gaze turned to Jungeun, filled to the brim with careful worry and care. “But this is dangerous, and we all know it.”

As if Jungeun hadn’t been overtly aware of the fact when she had found herself caring for Jinsol a little more than she should have.

Ignoring the steadily increasing swell of annoyance in her chest, Jungeun clicked her tongue. “I’m aware.”

“I’m serious.” MJ dropped from his place on the tree, feet weightlessly touching the grass while his wings fluttered behind him to cushion his fall. He stood in front of her with his shoulders tucked into himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. His way of showing that he wouldn’t bring any harm. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed those baby stumps of yours on your head – I know you’re doing your best to hide them but eventually you won’t be able to anymore. As if that’s not going to be enough of a problem for you… if any other demon were to find out of your… special feelings for your human… it could send you into the Ring. Lip, Boss literally banned any relationship between us and mortals that goes beyond sexual only recently. I don’t think even I could help you.”

She could feel the way her tail was twitching anxiously behind her, swatting away the soft blades of grass from its path. “I know.” Her voice was as steady as she could make it, but there was that underlying uncertainty that made MJ’s eyebrows draw even closer still. “I know.” She repeated. “I knew what I was getting myself into by doing this, trust me.”

Sighing, MJ let his troubled gaze drag over to Jinsol.

Jungeun felt her tail move to attempt to prick at MJ’s calf in an autonomous reaction, but fortunately the latter stood just out of distance. It wouldn’t really be best if it was discovered that she couldn’t even keep her own body at bay from overtly emotional reactions.

“I don’t really understand…” There had been many times where MJ had said those exact words. Many of them had been in stupid situations where they had all been playing around and formed an intricate plan that he had been too slow to catch on. But the way he said them now, with a genuine curiosity to learn and hints of worry seeping in, it made Jungeun’s chest ache. “Humans are humans. What is it that makes her special?”

Softening, Jungeun followed his gaze back to Jinsol. Her eyes always ended up in the same place anyway.

“I don’t know either.” Her admission was as honest as she could make it. “I’ve been trying to figure it out my whole life.”

-

After finally gathering the courage, Jungeun soundlessly approached Jinsol.

There was something melancholic about the way her frame looked so small in comparison to the wide expanse of the lake. Like the horizon trying to wrap itself around her, to keep her safe and sound. Jungeun couldn’t blame nature for its intentions when that’s all she wanted to do when she registered how small Jinsol actually was.

MJ had given her a black dress that was barely any more modest than the one Jaehyun had given her. (Jungeun had slapped the back of his head after Jinsol had turned away, trying to hide her distaste.) It was also tight around the waist, successfully showing off Jinsol’s figure, though the way that it hugged her torso was more defining. Loose black fabrics made up a skirt that parted to reveal her legs if she moved too drastically. Somehow, MJ had managed to choose a dress that showed off even more of Jinsol’s shoulders and collarbones, the bare skin glowing almost seductively. At least it provided her arms cover with the long sleeves that came down to her wrists. (Though the way it cut across her chest was admittedly distracting.)

Jungeun was floored.

It hadn’t taken her very long to realise that Jinsol’s beauty wasn’t something of normal standards among humans in the early years of her life on the lower plain. Wherever she went, her mind always went back to the human’s features in a distracted comparison. Were there ever eyes as round as hers? Lips as inviting as hers? Jaw as sharp and defined as hers?

Yeah, it hadn’t taken long for Jungeun to realise that the ‘gift’ she had been given was truly a gift.

Jinsol’s black hair danced along with the soft breezes that scattered across the fields. There was that thoughtful expression on her face – the one that told her she was thinking about something that displeased her. The way her eyebrows arched just the slightest betrayed her.

Pursed in a small pout, Jinsol’s pink lips managed to distract Jungeun from their trek across her face.

Unable to stop her mind to be taken back to their moment in the well, Jungeun’s tail curled around her left leg. The thing was entirely autonomous, it seemed, because it displayed exactly what she was feeling without her having a say in the grand scheme of things. It managed to surprise her out of her stupor as she frustratedly attempted shaking it off.

The slight movement caught Jinsol’s attention.

With a raised eyebrow, Jinsol angled her body towards her as if to show that she was willing to listen to anything she had to say.

Unsure with where to start, Jungeun shifted her weight from leg to leg. (Her tail still hugged around her calf and shin, unwilling to leave along with the blush on her face.)

She had grown so used to fighting with Jinsol – the first thing they said always being some heavy-weighted comment that always led to an argument, leading to a physical fight that left her more emotionally wounded. Appallingly, along the way she had forgotten how to converse with her placidly. In some other life, they had been almost inseparable. They talked about anything and everything without restrictions or past grievances holding them back. Jungeun had always thought the easiest thing to do would be to be in Jinsol’s presence.

But with the weight of Jinsol’s expectant stare on her now, Jungeun was at loss for words.

Everything that she had bottled up over years refused to come out and all of her prepared hypothetical speeches were erased when her eyes met Jinsol’s welcoming ones. Almost as if she wanted to let her chance to right things go.

“Jungeun?”

If she’d still had a heart, it would have skipped a beat.

Instead the weight in her chest made a wild attempt to lurch her forward as if to step closer to Jinsol.

Seeing the unfamiliar ready expression on Jinsol’s face – so expectant and full of innocent curiosity – it made the demon inside of her preen with pleasure. Before she could register where her mind was taking her, the same image of Jinsol’s blushed expectant face looking up at her with a gleam she dreamt about was intoxicating her mind.

Triggered, her tail tightened its grip on her leg.

Jungeun groaned and turned away from her. She brought her hands up to hide her burning face in them, pressing hard against her eyes to try and bring herself together. This had always been so much easier when it had just been scenarios that her mind liked to play out, series of ‘what if’s and ‘one day’s rolling like a highlight reel. Now her tongue was too clumsy in her mouth and her throat was too dry to form a coherent sentence.

She knew that Jaehyun and MJ were watching from a fair distance, probably waiting to see how their interaction played out. If she looked in their direction in that moment, they’d most likely be laughing to their hearts’ content at her reaction.

It had been so much easier to hide how docile she was for Jinsol when Jinsol herself reminded her of her hatred.

Ignoring the heat on her ears, Jungeun swung around with new-found determination. She wouldn’t let those two make fun of her when they had only just reunited several hours ago. She was Kim Lip – notorious despite not being high-ranked, and with an immense amount of potential for more if she so wished.

Jinsol was only human. A very powerful, wise human, but human still.

Once more, she almost faltered when she saw the entertained expression on Jinsol’s face. Hints of a smile threatened to break free on her mouth, though she held herself together with a purse of the lips.

It was like every time she looked at Jinsol and remembered just how many days she spent pining after her, Jungeun was rendered useless. Because she was a demon, for god’s sake. Her nature revolved around pleasure and hedonistic principles, which meant that her entire personality was built on confidence and self-interest. This – worry and care for another being – was not something that came naturally to her. What was she supposed to do once her pining actually worked in her favour? She’d never pined after anyone in her life, much less fallen in love with them. Should she ask her on a date?

Jungeun almost slapped a hand on her face when she thought that. They had just died, and she was thinking about taking Jinsol on a date?

Silently, Jinsol let her eyes scan her nervous body language. She was playing the waiting game, letting Jungeun suffer by herself while she watched from a comfortable distance, enjoying the show as she made a fool of herself.

That was cruel. Though Jinsol had always liked to play her little mind games.

“You’re not going to say anything?” Jungeun had intended her voice to come out strong. Commanding as it usually was. Instead it was shaky, and small, and bordering a whisper that broke the silence awkwardly underfoot. She used to be so confident back in the lower plain – where had all that confidence gone? Why had all that confidence gone?

With an unperturbed smile, Jinsol said, “It seemed like you wanted to say something first. You look like you’ll burst if you don’t say it.”

Jungeun refrained the urge to touch her cheeks. (Why was she blushing?) Jinsol looked so peaceful in that moment, warm sunlight kissing her face to bring a soft pink to the apples of her cheeks. “Well- yes I did want to say something.” She looked away, unable to hold her gaze. “But it’s not something that’s easy to talk about…”

Jinsol’s eyes were so soft. Eyelids sunk comfortably over the brown hues, lashes fluttering at the movement. Their shape had always been the perfect round that had Jungeun following the curve with her captivated gaze, but Jinsol preferred using a more relaxed facial expression that meant she looked at her through the shadows of her eyelashes. She wondered if Jinsol was wearing make-up for a moment, with how beautiful her eyes looked.

Jinsol titled her head curiously at Jungeun. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah,” Jungeun breathed, shifting her eyes again in embarrassment to the grass between her feet. What the hell was wrong with her? Couldn’t she just act like a normal person?

Feeling the pressure digging into her side, Jungeun remembered the precise reason as to why she was so nervous to approach Jinsol.

Wrapping her hand uncertainly around the leather, she wondered if this was all truly necessary. It wasn’t like this custom was compulsory. Still, she pulled it from the belt that was around her waist and pulled at it with her fingers.

The movement brought Jinsol’s attention to the object in her hands.

Recognition fell crashing down on her face. Any traces of peace and tranquillity that had once been were doused away by the sudden rigidity in Jinsol’s body. The tension oozed off from her in a way that had Jungeun’s tail swinging nervously behind her, taking the sudden change in atmosphere in stride. Jungeun was almost surprised to find that Jinsol’s eyes hadn’t morphed into their usual neon blue as they always did when she was unsettled, only to remember that her sanguisuge capabilities had dissipated once she entered the middle plain.

Guilt flooded Jungeun’s entire body in a millisecond as she too recognised why it was that Jinsol was tensing so hard.

“I’m sorry, I tried telling them that it wasn’t necessary but they said that if you walk beside me without this on, then that would just mean that other demons-“

“It’s fine.” Jinsol’s voice was cold. It froze the stream of excuses right on the tip of her tongue and sent her back to the times when all they had been were two broken souls tearing each other down. Unsurprisingly, the reminder pricked at her eyes distractingly. “You don’t have to explain – you already have. Once.”

Jungeun ashamedly ducked her head, moving to hide the leather object behind her back and away from view. “It’s demon culture, I-“ All she could hear in her own ears was child-like whining, making up excuses for things that shouldn’t even happen in the first place, and she thought it must have been much worse for Jinsol to hear so she stopped herself going further. “It’s for your safety. It’s better for them to think that you belong to someone already rather than them trying to claim you for themselves.”

She was all too familiar with the obsession of owning a human soul. As a demon, owning a human soul was seen as the same thing as a passage to an elite title – it granted you reputation and power. If she had seen an unclaimed, free mortal soul wandering Inferni, she would have not hesitated to claim it for herself.

The silence was eerie. Goosebumps erupted all over Jungeun’s skin. All she could hear was her own breathing, short and shallow.

Looking up, she registered the unreadable expression on Jinsol’s face. Eyes blankly scanning her up and down as if she were assessing her – analysing a possible threat. There were hints of resentment in the barely-there scowl in her expression. Traces of hatred that would never and could never disappear whenever it came to Jungeun.

“I won’t do it.” Jungeun decided. It was simple. Her mind reached the conclusion and nothing in her body told her it was the wrong one to assume. Turning her attention to the body of water in front of them, she revved up her arm in preparation. “I’m not doing this to you again-“

Jinsol caught her wrist before she could throw the object as far away as possible – hopefully send it hurtling so fast that it would burn in the air and never be seen again. Her grip was tight, though not desperate. Loose enough so that if Jungeun wanted, she’d be able to break away and get rid of it anyway. There was reluctance when she tried to say something to explain herself, and Jungeun felt like she was watching someone trying to walk their way through mud.

Seeing that the other girl was struggling, Jungeun let go of all of the tension in her body and dropped her arm. Taking steady breaths, she loosened her posture and shifted closer in the grass, tail finally relaxing for once.

Jinsol’s fingers danced on her knuckles, light enough for it to feel like Jungeun was experiencing another one of her dreams where affectionate flutters walked along the path of her skin. The human subconsciously held onto her hand, as if physically anchoring herself while she let her mind get lost in her own thoughts. And Jungeun allowed her, doing her best to silently calm her with a gentle gaze and quiet breathing.

It felt like an eternity before Jinsol spoke again.

“You wore a red dress when we first met.” Her voice was quiet, as if afraid to break the serenity of the fields they stood face to face in. Too quiet for Jungeun to pinpoint an exact emotion. Quiet like the Jinsol she had first laid her eyes on in the newly built estate Saerim had taken for herself, all shaking and weak and scared for her life. “You had no horns nor tail, but you may as well have because I thought you were the devil incarnate.”

Jungeun felt like she’d been hit by a truck.

Is that what Jinsol had been thinking about this whole time? Anxiety spiked inside of Jungeun as she remembered their first interaction so vividly, she may as well have relived the moment. Unable to stop the old emotions from resurfacing, Jungeun swallowed the large lump in her throat and tried to steady her breathing.

But Jinsol wanted to say more, so she restrained the urge to flee and throw herself into the Ring for her sins.

“Back then… I hadn’t known a thing about how cruel and dark the world was – how life could treat people even if they weren’t cursed to live an eternity as the very thing you despised the most.” Jinsol’s eyes followed dutifully where her fingers traced the grooves of Jungeun’s hand, not once registering the pained expression on the demon’s face as she listened wordlessly. “I was young – nineteen – and I hadn’t even had my first kiss yet there was a demon telling me things that I could barely comprehend.” A short chuckle. Not sarcastic, but amused. “But even if you told me that you had been alive since the beginning of time… I could tell you were young too. We both were.”

Jungeun’s breath was stolen from her lungs with careful precision. Like the other girl had snuck into her consciousness and was pressing all the right buttons to render her speechless.

There wasn’t any loathing on Jinsol’s face as there had been when they’d spoken about this moment in the past. Any time they had tried to bring up their past, it had just been accusations thrown blindly without registering what the other was saying. Yet this was different. There weren’t any traces of hatred nor anger as she rightly accused her of her despicable behaviour. Almost as if she had come to terms with the past.

“You hadn’t even known how to purchase something like this from the markets.” With a smile, Jinsol lifted their hands, gesturing to the object. “You dragged me with you because you were so helpless… you didn’t know a thing about humans or how finance worked, but you liked to pretend as if you knew it all.”

“I remember.” Jungeun exhaled, recalling how prideful she’d been back then, unable to directly ask ‘her human’ how to get something from those open stalls on the streets with the male humans shouting at the people walking by. Everything had been so loud and unpleasant, and unnecessarily chaotic when Jungeun just wanted to take what she wanted and leave in peace.

Jinsol’s posture relaxed, eyebrows arching as her eyes melted with something Jungeun didn’t recognise from her. “I thought it was endearing.”

As if Jungeun didn’t have to deal with her pride being crushed back then, she now had to suffer it at the hands of the purposefully demeaning comment. Her face burned in embarrassment and she promptly turned to look at the other side of the lake to attempt to distract herself from the fact that Jinsol was looking at her like she was a child. Someone who barely knew how to fend for themselves and needed a hand to hold as they learnt about the world. (Which admittedly, she had been considering how lost she was during conversation with other sanguisuges and living mortals.)

If only Jinsol could see how well she handled her bank accounts now, Jungeun thought bitterly.

“When you first told me to wear this, I told you that I wouldn’t do it over my dead body, and I remember getting so angry that I refused to feed.” The grip on her hand tightened and Jungeun glanced back to the girl. If it had been anyone else, perhaps they wouldn’t have noticed the slight tremble in their hands as they touched the leather. “But you didn’t listen to a word I said and forced me to wear it anyway, going to the lengths to physically restrain me and putting it on me when I told you not to – because that’s what you wanted and that’s the only thing that mattered. What you wanted.”

“Jinsol, I’m not forcing you to wear-“

“Exactly.”

Jungeun’s mouth hung open with unsaid promises, cut off by the hard resolution in Jinsol’s eyes. Her fingers were now clasped onto the leather despite their shakiness, as if she were forcing herself through the anxiety of coming face to face with it again.

“You’re not forcing me to wear this even if it will make things easier for you,” Jinsol explained, though there was confusion painting her features and a slight lilt to her tone as if she were asking Jungeun if she was right. That she wasn’t forcing her, and she didn’t have to panic.

“It… You’re not comfortable,” is all Jungeun could say in response. It felt like she was dreaming again – like this was the start of some crazed fantasy her demonic nature liked to come up with.

Soft was the only way Jungeun could describe Jinsol’s expression. The way she looked at her was so tender made her think that for a second, she wasn’t Jungeun – she wasn’t Kim Lip, a demon crafted by the very hands of the devil. It wasn’t like anything Jungeun had ever seen when Jinsol looked at her. Not even during the times they had been the closest they had ever been, because at the time she had been too consumed by seeking the attention of another, and Jinsol had had him. When Jungeun realised exactly what she wanted to see every day for the rest of her life, it had been too late.

That’s what she had told herself to keep from going insane all these past years.

Jungeun could cry, because Jinsol was looking at her with love – love for her. Love despite everything they had been through, and the pain they had both inflicted on each other. And it made her knees buckle with disbelief.

“It’s just… funny to me, that you’re wearing almost the same dress you had back then,” to drive her point home, Jinsol absentmindedly tugged at the fabric on her shoulder and made Jungeun’s tail wrap back around her calf, “and you’re a completely different person from how you used to be.”

Distractedly clearing her throat, Jungeun tried focussing on the conversation at hand.

Raising an eyebrow, Jinsol mirthfully observed the blush on her cheeks. “Well, almost.” White teeth glinted at her through a cheeky smile. “You’re still easy to rile up.”

Jungeun wanted to dispute her, but she knew exactly what Jinsol was implying with the small lilt to her lips, and then memories of the two of them intertwined so closely during those warm summer nights were invading her mind and Jungeun had gotten exactly what she wanted and given what was asked of her and it was all she could do but purse her lips and chant the alphabet in her mind to keep herself together.

“Uh-“ Grimacing at her voice crack, Jungeun shifted her weight on her feet. Why couldn’t her face just stop burning?

Laughing more to herself than at Jungeun, Jinsol took the collar from her hands. Her expression reverted back to its worrisome one, her eyes clouded as she looked at the object between her fingers with something close to fear. “Trusting you… it’s going to take me a while, but I’m willing to learn. I am learning.”

Any heat on Jungeun’s body was dissipated by the comment, relief replacing it instead. “Really?” Oh god, she sounded so pathetic with how high her voice reached.

Jinsol nodded slowly. Jungeun couldn’t blame her hesitation. “You’ve changed, and I trust that change isn’t going to hurt me.”

“It won’t.” Jungeun was quick to reassure, hastily stepping forward to clasp at Jinsol’s wrists. Sue her for being desperate to get her point across, when it was all she’d been trying to achieve ever since she messed up. Jinsol was willingly listening to her now. She was telling her that she was giving her another chance. “I promise you, I will never do anything to hurt you again if I can help it – we both know it’s inevitable at times, but like I said in that research compound: I will lay down even my life for you if it means keeping you safe.”

“You already have, Jungeun…” Behind whatever calm Jinsol was trying to convey was some kind of fearful adoration. They both looked around them and at the strange spirits floating amongst the tufts of clouds, and Jungeun truly realised that she had – she had died for Jinsol.

Something akin to excitement vibrated inside of her, her body shaking in response to the abrupt burst of energy she received. Everything that she had been feeling was almost like it had been dialled up. The world around them just seemed that much brighter – being alive (or not) held so much more meaning now that they were together like this. Where Jungeun could hold onto Jinsol like she needed her to be close, and where Jinsol wouldn’t shake her away with disgust. They could start over once more, and Jungeun could rectify her mistakes.

“You can put this on me, if you want.” Jinsol sheepishly held up the black, leather collar. The faint tinge of pink on her cheeks didn’t go amiss to Jungeun, who had been too busy enamoured with the other girl to even think about the damned thing. But the reminder was enough to send a jolt of heat surging throughout her entire body. “Well, you obviously want to.” Nervously, Jinsol’s eyes shot away to the calm waters to avoid the red hues of Jungeun’s eyes that had lit without direction.

Cursing softly under her breath, Jungeun tried willing herself to change them back to their normal brown. She would have to retrain her senses to collaborate with her will – that much was obvious.

Not that she could really blame herself too much when she’d been offered to practically claim the object of her affections. A collar represented property – no other demon could touch the human less they wanted to be dismembered and sent directly into the Ring. Wrapping it around their human, for a demon, was enough to send them preening into the next millennia.

“Sorry,” Jungeun was still ashamed, however. She didn’t consider this as her claiming her property, rather as a confirmation of her fondness being returned. Much like how humans would give each other pieces of jewellery. “I have the body of an infant demon so it’s hard to control everything.”

Taking the leather in her hands and approaching Jinsoul’s neck, she couldn’t help the way her eyes lit up bright red once more. Jinsoul’s neck had always been one of her favourite places to focus on.

It wasn’t much of a secret to either of them. The first time that Jinsol had given into Jungeun’s relentless chasing and allowed the demon into her bed, there had been several weeks where there wouldn’t not be bruises littering her pale skin. There was something about making sure that everyone knew that the human belonged to her that made Jungeun’s skin crawl with wildfires. Being able to look at the purple splotches from across the dining table and feel her anxiousness at not sitting next to the girl calm.

Much later, there had been other reasons for her bruising: their shared hatred for Saerim as she further lost herself to the maniacal power that Yves provided; Jinsol’s glare of self-deprecation when her fingers traced the scarred bite mark on her neck in the mirror; the foreign surge of empathy and warmth as Jungeun masked the marred skin with her own bruises.

Not that Saerim was very pleased by their act of rebellion. (Jinsol suffered the brunt of her punishment, though Jungeun didn’t go unscathed.)

It was during those dark days that Jungeun came to the realisation that the pleasures brought with sexual intercourse could be so much better when there was a more emotional motivation driving her to have Jinsol screaming her name. How much better it felt to look at her neck when it wasn’t being covered by the dehumanising collar, and being able to feel like Jinsol was still hers nonetheless.

She hadn’t even known she was biting down on her lip until Jinsol’s finger gently pried it from the hard grip of her teeth. The pad of her thumb brushed over the sensitive flesh, pressing down softly as if massaging it.

Confused (and incredibly turned on), Jungeun’s eyes looked at Jinsol’s face in search for an explanation. What she found was even more reason to keep her lip trapped to stop herself from doing something stupid. Of course the first thing her demonic nature would notice was the way Jinsol’s pupils had blown out, the near insatiable hunger in them feeding into Jungeun’s libido. Her energy was so charged that Jungeun’s tail was practically cutting the circulation in her leg, though it was most likely because of Jungeun’s own sudden change in demeanour.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Jungeun’s voice was thick – there was too much moisture in her mouth and her tongue felt heavy.

No, she had to focus.

What was the point in Jinsol telling her all those things about her being a changed person when she would just revert back to her old self immediately after? Jungeun agreed with her – she had changed. She was no longer the same pleasure-driven demon that only cared to satisfy her desires.

Her hands brushed the soft skin at Jinsol’s neck, lifting the black strands of hair cautiously with dainty fingers.

Jungeun paused when she heard the sharp inhale. She refused to look at Jinsol’s face.

With concentration, she continued her path to wrap the leather around the back of her neck and bring it around the other side so she could hand her hands from the strings on each end. The black leather rested against the revealed skin at Jinsol’s chest and Jungeun found herself cursing MJ and Jaehyun out again in her head for listening to their weird, demonic fantasies. (She would have been more concerned that they knew exactly how to dress Jinsol to make her like this if she hadn’t remembered that they were all demons and sharing open conversation about this topic wasn’t something out of the norm.)

Shakily noticing that she had the collar successfully hugged at the column of Jinsol’s throat, Jungeun breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she hadn’t lost control of all of her inhibitions.

Jinsol tilted her chin up. Probably to make it easier for Jungeun to tie the strings together, but the only thing it did was make Jungeun’s eyes shoot up to meet her hooded ones and then all of her movements stopped.

Just when she felt herself leaning in, Jungeun bit her tongue and frustratedly exhaled through her nose. Jinsol was making this harder for her on purpose.

Which did not make sense, because Jungeun was still used to Jinsol hating every inch of her body. Not looking like she wanted to run her hands everywhere instead.

“Jinsol…” She warned as she distractedly pulled the strings together, wrapping them together in a practiced knot. Demons each had their individual ways of tying strings or ropes together so that it would be easily identifiable what belonged to who. Out of habit, Jungeun had always had a piece of string lying around in the lower plain so that she could repeatedly tie the knot and untie it, only to start again. It had been calming.

Not very calming now, however.

“Jungeun…” A purr. One Jungeun hadn’t heard in a while.

Her hands fumbled and pressed against Jinsol’s collarbones from how startled she was.

An anticipating hum serenaded her attention and then her hands were sliding over bare shoulders and into thick hair as Jinsol dipped down slightly to capture her lips. Jungeun’s fingers tried to grip onto something as her entire body swayed at the sensation, so overwhelmed that she feared she would fall if Jinsol weren’t holding on for dear life.

Jinsol’s arms wrapped around her waist to pull their bodies flush, the pressure of her breasts against hers sending prickles all the way down her spine and into her toes. It was all Jungeun could do but arch her back to feel the heat emanating through the fabric of her tight-fit dress better. The only thing that her mind could focus on was the incessant need to cool the fire in the pit of her stomach. And then she thought that Jinsol was probably feeling the same and then she her was slotting her leg between Jinsol’s and her knee pressed up.

A moan and Jungeun was going insane because how long had it been since she’d last had sex? With all the stress in the lower plain caused from the human government perhaps plotting something against the syndicate, and the syndicate progressively becoming more suspicious about Jinsol’s whereabouts, Jungeun had barely had any time to focus on herself. It had maybe been eight months? For a demon, that itself was unnatural. Wrong.

And here Jinsol was, overstimulating her senses with her beauty and the perfect attire that made the demon inside of Jungeun curl with pleasure. Nothing even mattered anymore if she was making Jinsol feel good.

Jinsol was a good kisser.

She knew exactly when to apply more pressure to steal the breath from her lungs, and when to gently lean away to bite at her lips with her blunt teeth. (A part of Jungeun missed the sharpness of the fangs pricking at her lower lip.) Her tongue dipped into Jungeun’s mouth and the white pleasure that shot through her body forced her thigh upwards and into Jinsol’s heat. A reaction that Jinsol had been seemingly looking for, because one of her wandering hands gripped at her thigh in approval, holding her there.

Yes, she was probably a good kisser because Jungeun had taught her exactly how she liked to be kissed. She was just surprised that Jinsol even remembered.

She had barely noticed that Jinsol was grinding down on her bare thigh, too high on pleasure, when the latter let out a high-pitched whine that made her stomach clench with want. Jungeun wanted to hear more. She wanted to hear Jinsol’s voice as she came undone under her hands, saying her name and-

Oh god, Jaehyun and MJ were literally metres over.

Halting Jinsol’s movements by placing her hands on her relentless hips, Jungeun quickly pulled away. “Sol, we can’t do this here.” She was breathing heavy and still feeling the after-effects of the kiss, but she knew that her voice of reason was probably right. “Oh my god…”

Glancing quickly at the other two demons, she found that Jaehyun had put MJ in a headlock and was forcing him to face their backs to them. Judging from the way MJ was desperately trying to get out of it, she figured that Jaehyun had probably done so to give them at least some semblance of privacy, which Jungeun had not been expecting considering his lewd comments earlier on but appreciated either way. It made her feel a strange surge of happiness at the considerate act.

Seeming to come to her senses, Jinsol’s dark eyes flashed brightly with frustration before they were closing tightly. “Fuck…” Her hands moved to hold onto the back of Jungeun’s dress, bunching up the red fabric there so that the front would tighten a little. Jungeun tried to ignore it.

Supporting her body weight, Jungeun wrapped her arms around Jinsol’s neck to hold her close to her in hopes to calm her down. It wasn’t the same, but she felt satisfied with the warm embrace just as much as she had earlier.

It had been a long time since she’d been hugged like this – with so much unguarded affection and tender care that had her melting in the spot. Without her realising it, her and Yerim had become distanced over the busy months on the lower-plain, and with the betrayal in the past month, it meant that Jungeun’s only close bond had been fractured. She was only registering now that she’d been lacking a hug.

(If Jungeun from the past could see her now, she’d be disgusted.)

Jinsol’s chin rested on her shoulder, and Jungeun could feel the material of the leather against her skin where the dress revealed her shoulder. “You know for a demon you sure do have a lot of self-restraint.”

Startled, Jungeun laughed when she heard the sour tone. Burying her face into the crook of Jinsol’s neck, she said, “Like you said – I’ve changed.”

Humming, Jinsol enveloped her arms tighter around her waist and lifted her slightly off the ground, squeezing a squeak out of her at the motion. “Yeah, you have.”

-

“So you’re really doing this?”

Jaehyun and Jungeun stood side by side as they watched MJ try to talk to Jinsol. Whatever it was that MJ was trying to say the girl, it seemed to fall flat because Jinsol gave him one of her dirtiest glares that had always managed to shut Jungeun up the moment she received it.

The white-horned demon had his arms crossed over his chest, tail absentmindedly reaching for Jungeun’s which lay contentedly behind her in the grass. He had always been the quieter one out of the trio – MJ evidently being the one who loved to hear his own voice – but there was a quality to it now that felt strangely subdued. A maturity that Jungeun was only now starting to pick up on.

“Yeah.” Jungeun basked in the winds and the sun and MJ’s raucous voice as he tried to make conversation with the human. She had to admit that she had missed the feeling.

All of them had gone over the directions to get to the entrance of the middle-plain that would lead them directly into the lower-plain, with MJ even providing them with a small sketched out guide. The little animations weren’t the most legible, and the writing was done in Latin (to which Jinsol barely hid her excitement over), but it was something. They had tried updating her on all of the culture changes so that she wouldn’t be too surprised and had even told Jinsol how humans were expected to behave when they were with their demons. Jungeun was just glad that the two people she considered closest to her hadn’t shunned her for leaving them for so long.

She glanced at Jaehyun and his murky expression. “What’s bothering you?”

He seemed to startle out of his reverie, as if he’d forgotten that Jungeun was beside him at all. She wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what had happened after all. When he managed to regain himself, he sent her his most sarcastic grin. “I thought I would get another couple of centuries away from you, but you decided to come ruin my life.”

Rolling her eyes, Jungeun crossed her arms over herself and looked away. “Right, that’s why you’re holding my tail.” Jinsol seemed to have given into MJ’s persistent attempts at conversation, though she didn’t appear as bothered as her expression let on.

Jaehyun’s head whipped back and sure enough, his white tail had curled around Jungeun’s red one as if he were a little kid holding onto their parent’s hand. Chuckling nervously, he twisted his body away to separate them and moved to stand so he faced her. “Kim Lip, you should really learn to control your tail better, you can’t go around holding other demon’s tails with the baby horns on your head,” he tried scolding her, though even he was slightly amused at himself.

A warm grin surfaced on Jungeun’s face in response. Demons didn’t really have families – not like how humans did – but after being around the human culture for so long, she couldn’t help but see Jaehyun and MJ as her two brothers.

“And you’re worried about me become a softie when you’re out here being all sentimental.” Jungeun teased.

“Psh- ‘sentimental’ is not a word in our vocabulary, Lippie.” Scoffing, Jaehyun looked towards an animated MJ and a slightly intrigued Jinsol. There was an unreadable expression on his face, as if he were mulling over his words. “You love her?”

The question caught her off-guard.

Jaehyun had been asking her questions about her feelings for Jinsol, and the details of their relationship, but every time that he outright asked her how she felt she was always a little surprised. Because despite his insistence that it was only genuine curiosity, Jungeun could tell that there was something more behind his enquiries. (MJ’s questions were more detached, as if he were trying to figure out what to make of her.)

When Jungeun looked at him carefully, she saw how he held himself so firmly. Like he was trying a little too hard to appear disinterested.

“Yes.” She didn’t want to push. There were so boundaries that felt a little to dangerous to cross, and this was one of them. However, she herself had some questions she’d been meaning to ask. “Why didn’t you tell MJ?”

It was Jaehyun’s turn to be caught off-guard. Warily, he spared her a glance and then fixated his gaze on MJ, who was intently listening to whatever Jinsol was saying. (Jungeun refused to melt at the sight of the two of them getting along.) His silence was nerve-wracking, because part of Jungeun had expected him to have an answer already prepared, or maybe a simple reason.

“I think… I think I didn’t want you to get thrown into the Ring.” His brow was furrowed hard enough that his forehead creased. Jungeun didn’t think she’d ever seen him so conflicted before.

“I thought that we were friends, why would you want to get me thrown into the Ring?” His reason was too plain to match whatever storm was wreaking havoc within his head. Jungeun thought it was a given that Jaehyun didn’t want her to die and she didn’t want him to die – unless she had been doing this whole ‘caring’ thing wrong this whole time.

“No I-“ Face screwing up in conflict, Jaehyun’s tail anxiously swayed behind him. “If I told MJ that you soul-tied yourself to the human, then he would have incinerated her soul in an instant.”

Worry gripped at Jungeun. She looked to where MJ and Jinsol were still talking, his wide grin and encouraging head tilts to keep her talking. She couldn’t really imagine him doing anything that would harm Jinsol. “He wouldn’t…”

Yet…

“He would.” Jaehyun said, a dark look settling on his features.

MJ had always been ruthless when necessary. If anything were to pose as a threat, then he would be the one to take matters into his own hands and deal with it with necessary mercilessness. Whenever they encountered an issue, it was always MJ who acted first before Jaehyun or Jungeun even had a chance to think about what they could do. He was always the one doing what was difficult.

“Your soul-tie to her could kill you.” Jaehyun grimaced when they met eyes, seeing the underlying annoyance in Jungeun’s expression. “If MJ knew about it, he wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of the very thing that could be your downfall.”

Jungeun breathed heavily. She had known the risks when she’d done it, and it wasn’t like she regretted doing it, but just thinking about the possibilities of what could go wrong made her restless.

“He doesn’t realise it, but he cares for you.” Jaehyun exhaled. “We care for you.”

It was said quietly, so timid that Jungeun almost hadn’t realised it amongst the worries swarming around in her head. The words registered and Jungeun was looking at him sharply, trying to deduce whether he himself knew what he had just said. How he had admitted to having deeper care for another being despite it going against their very nature – just as she had when she hadn’t known that it was possible.

Before she could push for further answers, MJ raised his arm to catch their attention. “Hey! The time is right for you guys to move undetected!”

Jaehyun’s entire demeanour relaxed as he shot an animated grin back at the older demon. Without sparing her another look, he threw his bulky arm over her cloaked shoulders and began to pull her along. “Come, it’s time to send you off on your honeymoon with your human lover.” The teasing glint was back in his eyes as if it had never disappeared in the first place and Jungeun felt whatever edges of the conversation they’d had slipping away. “Are you sure you two are monogamous?”

“Watch it.” Jungeun scowled, pricking the back of his leg with her tail.

He laughed raucously, hopping away from her before she could deal any more damage. MJ casually threw his arm around Jaehyun’s shoulders once he came to stand at his side, wearing a wistful smile on his face as he met her eyes.

“Wish we could come, Lippie, but too many demons together and you know what kind of attention we’ll draw,” he explained sympathetically through the wide grin on his face. And Jaehyun’s words were still lodged into her mind, because Jungeun thought she could see the care in his eyes as he looked her up and down as if checking for any injuries. “Don’t get caught though – we still have to catch up with each other and we can’t have you leaving us permanently.”

Jungeun returned his grin, albeit a little uneasily. “I won’t. I am Kim Lip, after all.”

A hand gently touched the small of her back, and when Jungeun glanced over at Jinsol she was met with a knowing gaze. One that told her that she was aware of her uncertainty, but that she wouldn’t have to suffer through it alone.

Grateful, Jungeun reached behind her and clasped at her fingers.

They would be alright.

xxxxxxxxxxx


	4. four

Yeojin had never been particularly timid. She loved to speak her opinions on controversial topics, though she admitted that at times she forgot to distinguish between when it was safe for her to do so or if she should have kept it to herself after all. Against popular beliefs, it was very difficult for her to control the volume of her voice whenever she got excited, even when it evidently irritated those with sensitive hearing around her and she noticed. They glared at her as if she had a remote control for it, but her emotions always managed to get the best of them. Her natural instincts always edged her to seek the company of others – always feeling more comfortable in her skin when around people she genuinely enjoyed the company of. It made her feel like she could shine brighter.

To put it plainly: Yeojin was an extrovert.

But that wasn’t any explanation as to why she struggled to make friends at school.

She had done her best (going to the lengths of buying high-priced snacks on the way to school and changing her behavior as best as possible) to try and befriend the group of girls in her class. The first day of school she had made a bet with Haseul that she would come back home having befriended everyone in her year. When she had set her eyes on the chic girls who huddled together like models destined to be grouped as one, excitement had been the only thing bursting through her. Man, had she been ecstatic to fit in.

Of course, she knew it now looking back on it, she had unknowingly been over-zealous. And maybe it was the lack of nonchalance, or the excess willingness to do anything that would get them to like her, but she had become the target of their teasing.

At first, she hadn’t noticed it. The hushed whispers and irate glares whenever she approached their tight-knit circle. Then she had talked herself out of the self-proclaimed ‘paranoia’ when their judgement of her had developed into directly avoiding her and indirectly telling her to leave them alone. By the time that Yeojin had realized the harsh truth about their opinions on her, she had already pushed a little too hard and the girls had formed a resentment towards her. And then the snacks that she carried with her to school for all of them to share were being ripped out from her hands and she was ostracized until they decided they needed someone to do something too taxing for them, and her refusal was met with leering looks of deprecation and mumbled insults.

Yeojin was extroverted.

Until she was pushed and pushed and _pushed_ and then she was all too familiar with bathroom stalls and the underbelly of bleachers.

Vivi noticed. Of course, Vivi noticed. Vivi noticed everything, like when she stayed up late at night scrolling through social media or watching YouTube videos or cursing out Haseul for taking her Nintendo Switch for the nth time.

(But being the cool, three-hundred-year-old vampire that she was, she never really ratted her out to Haseul. Yeojin always found her eyes anxiously dancing from her cereal to Vivi’s neutral face the mornings after, knowing for a fact that Vivi had heard whatever late-night activities she had been up to. It was a cold anxiety that always managed to send her mind into overdrive as she debated whether Vivi was excessively devoted to her sister or if she was willing to keep hush.

Now that she thought about it, that was probably Vivi’s own form of punishment: letting her lose her mind while Vivi waited her out.)

Vivi had tried getting her to tell Haseul about the conflicts at school.

Yeojin considered it, and then the thought of letting her already over dramatic sister handle a topic as sensitive as this one sent her scampering away from the thought of ever breaching a conversation like that with her. Haseul had her own problems to deal with, Yeojin could handle her own like an adult.

Or so she thought, and then the girls had been particularly sensitive one day and decided to mess around with her.

Despite living with a literal blood-sucking creature that could possibly eat her alive in her sleep, Yeojin hadn’t ever been so scared of someone before. The girls that had cornered her and shoved her against the lockers for everyone to see hadn’t had the same merciful glint to Vivi’s eyes when the older girl would wrestle with her.

She hadn’t cried. (Maybe it was because she had been expecting things to develop that way since the moment she had come to the realization that she wasn’t very well liked. Also, the dramas that played on TV proved to be a pretty good reference for real-life.) But she had been close, because even if she didn’t want to admit it, she had barely established any stable friendships at school and due to all of her time being taken up by whatever tasks the girls forced her to do, she didn’t have much chance.

Yeojin hadn’t known what to do with herself.

And then Hyejoo had happened to spill a bucket of water she had been carrying around that turned three of the girls’ shirts see-through and the rest of the girls’ socks uncomfortably wet in their shoes, and all Yeojin could see was her knight in shining armor.

To this day, Yeojin didn’t know what Hyejoo was doing carrying a water bucket in the during lunch break, but she liked to think it was because she wanted to save her.

Excited with this new development, Yeojin took to following the older girl around whenever she could.

Hyejoo, at first, disregarded her very existence as if she wasn’t there in the first place. For a moment Yeojin thought that it would just be a repeat of the other girls in her class and had been prepared to finally give into Vivi’s lectures and open up to Haseul. But then the girls grew sick and tired of waiting for Yeojin to go crawling back to them and instead chased after her. And it just so happened to be during the morning break period when Yeojin had quietly followed Hyejoo to the school’s green area and sat on the other side of the bench the brooding student had chosen. Yeojin had been quietly munching on the crappy lunch Haseul had made her when it had been slapped out of her hands.

Everything happened in a blur – mostly because Yeojin was busy mourning over the spilled lunch (even if it tasted stale and lacked flavor) – but she remembered seeing Hyejoo jab a couple of girls in the face so their noses bled profusely, and several others ending pushed to the floor by Hyejoo’s strong shove.

How Yeojin found out about Hyejoo’s supernatural abilities?

She had tried to hug Hyejoo out of gratitude for beating up six girls at once (because that had literally looked like a scene straight out from a Marvel movie where Hyejoo was one of the superheroes and Yeojin couldn’t believe her eyes the whole time). Hyejoo, being the volatile little shit that she was, almost blew her head into a million pieces with a black energy concentrated in the palm of her hand.

Fortunately, Hyejoo seemed to have _some_ sense of self-control, because she jolted her hand away and instead blew a branch of an innocent tree out from the sky.

From then on, Yeojin downright _refused_ to leave her side.

She managed to keep her friendship (she ignored Hyejoo’s “I don’t need friends, they disappoint me” attitude) hidden from Vivi, though that didn’t really seem to prove to be much of a challenge when the two other adults in the house seemed to be distracted by something else entirely.

How she managed to convince Hyejoo to help contain a possessed vampire? She was pretty sure that Hyejoo was actually curious about the other supernatural creatures despite how much she told her it was just because Yeojin was infuriatingly persistent.

But look how well everything had worked out!

Hyejoo had been the one to stop the beast that was Gowon single-handedly without even letting Olivia be the one who used her powers, and now she was out on the streets hunting down loose hellhounds with Hyunjin like those monsters couldn’t tear them apart in seconds. She was an awesome addition to their rag-tag team put together like the Avengers.

“Please Unnie, I know someone who can be your lawyer.”

Now all she had to do was convince Vivi of the matter.

“You’re struggling because none of the surviving vampires studied law in depth, and I know that you can’t suddenly hire a human lawyer from thin air to start fighting for pro-vampire rights because who in their right mind would do that?” Yeojin had informed herself on the situation that Vivi and Haseul had been struggling over for the past several months. The two older girls did their very best to keep her in the dark about the intricacies of everything going on behind closed doors, but little did they know that her newfound friendship with Yerim allowed her to listen into conversations from even three rooms away. (She was also very kind to provide explanations for things that didn’t make sense to begin with.) As a result, she had been seeking for a solution to Vivi’s problems ever since Yerim had started giving her brief rundowns every night. “You don’t have to struggle anymore because I _know_ someone who’s already familiar with the supernatural world that can help with that. Hyejoo-unnie knows them too and-“

“Yeojin.” Vivi’s tone was overflowing warning and exasperation. There were grey bruises under her eyes uncapable of being hidden by the desperate touch of make-up.

Present ever since Jinsoul went into that weird sleeping state, and worse after the Kim Lip lady followed after her.

Personally, Yeojin hadn’t really had many conversations with the blonde woman, but she could tell from the way that she interacted with Vivi that she was kind. And she was never really mindful about whether she drank her blood around Yeojin or not. (Which Yeojin appreciated, because it had never been a big deal to anyone but Haseul and Vivi.) She wondered how it would have felt to be in Vivi’s shoes. To lose the person that had been with you for so many years so suddenly.

How would she feel if Haseul was killed?

Oof, not a thought that she wanted to think about.

Doing her very best to keep in mind the older girl’s situation, Yeojin took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. If the experience at school had taught her anything, it was that if she wanted to have her way with people then she would have to mould herself to their liking.

Yeojin made her voice as soft as she could, trying to catch Vivi’s tired gaze, “I know that you think I’m too young-“

“Which you are.” Vivi snapped impatiently, a stubborn flare to the way she settled her jaw. There was heavy certitude within her movements as she halted her steps and turned to look down at Yeojin, who didn’t dare cower away from the reprimanding glare. She had learned how to be comfortable with her height (or lack thereof) when so many people weaponized it against her. By then, Vivi trying to emphasize it didn’t faze her. “I don’t know where you’ve been getting all this information from and I suggest to _any_ sanguisuge helping you out in that aspect to watch their backs – but you know far too much about things that shouldn’t concern you-“

“Damn right they concern me!” Before she could help herself her volume sky-rocketed again, throat not even straining from how accustomed it was at Yeojin’s desperation to get her point through. “You and Haseul-unnie haven’t slept properly for _months_ trying to find a solution, while all _I’m_ doing is going to that stupid school and sitting in that stupid classroom learning stupid-“

Like a viper, Vivi’s hand snapped out to clasp at her wrist, shocking her into silence. “Your education is _very_ important, Yeojin.” The older girl’s voice was low and quiet, a default volume completely contrasting to her own. Yeojin knew from the tightness in her grip that she was as serious as ever, even with the hoax calmness in her features. “You don’t get to throw it away over something you shouldn’t even be involved in.”

“But I’m doing all of my homework, and I’m not sleeping during lessons anymore, and my teacher even praised me the other day for answering so many questions.”

It was true – Yeojin was trying her best in school after the new school year started. She was aware that she wouldn’t be able to rely on Haseul her whole life and had even considered getting herself a job just to prove her independence. But that required lying to her sister about her whereabouts and doing that when she had a superhuman vampire girlfriend at her disposal would be the dumbest thing that Yeojin had ever done. (Perhaps not the dumbest, but it was up there on the list.)

The second easiest way to find a way to loosen the load on her sister’s back was to get the best possible grades and find herself a stable source of income after she left high school.

So Yeojin had actually been paying mind to her grades. She had even recruited the help of Yerim to tutor her (turns out that after being alive for several decades and being stuck at the age of seventeen all the while, she’d had to go through the same course numerous amount of times). Thanks to that, for once she actually understood the concepts at school. She didn’t feel like a blind cow trying to walk through a mine field.

Why Yeojin was trying her best – Vivi and Haseul didn’t need to know.

All they needed to know was that she was doing as they expected her to.

When Vivi didn’t say anything in response (other than softening at the mention of Yeojin getting praised at school), Yeojin ploughed on with her agenda.

“There’s a girl at school whose older sister recently graduated university with a major in law and is becoming a lawyer – their family has been involved with witchcraft for generations now so it’s not like they’re unaware that vampires exist. Her group even taught Hyejoo-unnie how to use black magic and Hyejoo-unnie isn’t even the most approachable person! So I spoke to her-“

Like a switch, Vivi’s expression flicked at once and darkened considerably. “You’re speaking to people who do black magic?”

“Oh please, the girls are harmless even if they are extremely tall.” Yeojin thought back to how they’d towered over her as she spoke to them. Taller than any of the other girls that she had been around. “Plus, Hyejoo-unnie was with me the whole time, and if they tried anything then they would have gotten beaten up. Not that they would have tried – everyone is scared of Hyejoo-unnie.”

“You’re talking to _multiple people_ who do black magic?”

Of course, that was the only thing that Vivi took from that sentence.

Rolling her eyes, Yeojin glared up at the older girl. “It’s not voodoo magic, Unnie.” She didn’t know what kind of misconceptions it was that Vivi had about witchcraft, but it seemed like they were very incorrect. “Besides, they’re honestly so cute. They wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Vivi’s face scrunched up in denial, brow furrowed tight. “That’s _exactly_ what you said about those other girls, and where did you end up?”

Like the breath had been knocked out from her, Yeojin’s train of thought stopped.

That hurt. More than Yeojin had been expecting it to.

Sure, her and Haseul argued on a daily basis and spat out horrible things to one another, but that was part of their dynamic. They’d been doing it since Yeojin had learnt how to say her first sentence, and by then Yeojin had kind of expected something hurtful to come out from her sister’s mouth every time they looked at each other.

But Vivi?

She trusted Vivi with a lot of her secrets. So far, she hadn’t been judgemental about any of them – nor had she tried fixing any of her problems for her. Yeojin hadn’t been constantly afraid that she would. Because she knew that Vivi was a good person, who just wanted what was best for her but respected her boundaries all the while, unlike her overbearing sister.

“Wow.” Yeojin tried laughing it off (‘it’ being the sudden harsh, burning sting in her chest) but her chuckle came out hoarse and threateningly wet. “Okay.”

Coming to the slow realization that she had said the wrong words, Vivi’s eyes widened just a fraction. “Yeojin, you know I didn’t mean that in a harmful way. I’m just trying to remind you of what happened the last time you trusted people you didn’t know.”

Yeojin did her best to ignore the coil in her stomach. She refused to look Vivi in the eyes, because the older girl had a terribly good way of pleading her case with just the correct amount of remorse in her eyes. Yerim had already told her that if they pleased, vampires could influence what others felt or thought. She was sure that Vivi wasn’t too unfamiliar with the skill after being around them for so many years.

Thinking about it just made her blood boil.

She didn’t want to throw a tantrum like a little kid who couldn’t control their emotions, but she knew that if she heard another word from Vivi then it would all wind down to that.

With all of her strength, Yeojin snatched her wrist from the terse grip. She ignored Vivi’s pleads to stop, her attempts to kindly bring her back into their room – Yeojin’s room, because Haseul and Vivi didn’t even sleep in their bed anymore – and merely marched onwards.

Abruptly, a familiar figure appeared in the long hallway, holding the cursed briefcase that was practically melted into her hand and looking suspiciously cheerful for the first time in months.

“Hey, Hyunjin left a couple of minutes ago so it means I’m free to hang out for a while.” Haseul beamed as she walked towards them, her glasses pushing strands of hair away from her face as they sat atop her head. It had been a while since Yeojin had seen her sister so carefree. With that dumb smile on her face that made her eyes smaller and her excited voice that made everything feel simpler than they actually were.

What amazing timing.

Yeojin scoffed as she continued marching forward.

Weeks and weeks of Haseul blatantly ignoring her in favor of burning her eyesight with that computer screen, and suddenly when Yeojin actually had a well-thought out plan to help, her schedule was cleared up.

As Yeojin got closer to Haseul, the latter’s grin began melting into a frown. One full of concern and confusion that always managed to remind Yeojin of their mother, so her reaction had always been to pinch the skin between her older sister’s eyebrows. The only thing it did was manage to make Yeojin vividly aware of the tears prickling at her eyes like little insects greedily clinging onto her eyeballs. It made her furious with herself that she couldn’t keep her emotions more at bay like everyone else around her was obviously doing.

“Hey what’s wrong-“

Yeojin avoided the outstretched hand with her whole body, lurching away as if repulsed.

She refused to acknowledge the gasp of hurt.

“Yeojin! Where are you going?” Haseul called out after her, but Yeojin was already halfway down the hallway. “Yeojin, come back here!”

Yeojin hated it with a passion when Haseul used the ‘mom voice’.

She knew where she was going, however. Even if she was mad at Vivi for using something like that against her, she still cared for her and didn’t want her slaving away for hours as she tried killed herself over trying to save them all from danger. And she’d just have to talk to Haseul later and apologize for misbehaving (if her sister wasn’t too busy with her own research to pay attention to her).

If it was the last thing she did, Yeojin would help.

-

Resting against a ledge built up from the ground made of marble stone, Hyunjin allowed herself to roll her shoulders forward and loosen the tension that had been building up all day.

Morning shifts at the coffee shop were always the worst. It guaranteed short-tempered and peevish customers that wanted their fix of caffeine delivered to them as quickly as possible, even if they’d only given their order a minute prior and there had been five other customers ahead of them. During her first couple of shifts she’d had Jiwoo shadowing her every move in case she needed help (not that Hyunjin would give her a chance to involve herself with her work if she could do anything about it – she was good at everything she did). She hadn’t realized how reassuring it had been having a safety net for her to fall back on until it had been swiped from right beneath her feet, and suddenly she was dealing coffee with the other two employees that shared some of her shifts with no one to tell her what the following step was in a recipe.

Despite the stress and forced interactions with irritating customers (they weren’t the only ones who were happened to have bad mornings, those self-absorbed shits), working at the coffee shop provided a sense of normalcy that her life had been deprived of. Almost as if focussing on her biggest worry: if they had enough milk stockpiled in the back that morning, or if they still had caramel syrup for the frappes – would somehow erase everything else in her life.

“Work was stressful, I’m assuming?”

But all that normalcy was but a mere filter she liked to place over her eyes. Eyes that could become ablaze with a hungry amber at any given moment.

Hyunjin met the older sanguisuge’s gaze in acknowledgement, her hand working at the knot that had formed on the right side of her shoulder near the base of her neck. “When is any kind of work not stressful?” She allowed him to come to rest beside her at a friendly distance, the citrus scent he always carried with him registering to her immediately.

Doyoung chortled quietly under his breath. Hands spreading over the marble surface, he tilted backward to stare at the large modern chandeliers stooping down from the ceiling. “I would ask you why you torture yourself with such banal tasks, but I can very much see the charm to them.”

Over the past several months, Hyunjin had become familiar with the older sanguisuge. She’d been… hesitant at first. Perhaps a little stand-offish whenever his presence materialized itself within a five-metre distance of her. With the patience of a saint, he’d carefully managed to weave himself into Hyunjin’s routine, using meetings with Vivi that required ‘an extra set of finely tuned ears’ and visits to the Kim Estate to check on the condition of his old friend. As if bribing a dog with small, rewarding treats, he’d tell her small facts about Jinsoul’s life and small insights into antics that Hyunjin hadn’t yet had the chance to find out for herself.

It was only natural that after applying that small psychological mind game on her, that Hyunjin’s natural reaction when she saw him would be one of contentment.

Maybe borderline excitement.

“I could see you working as the cashier of a supermarket,” Hyunjin let her mouth form a half-smile. “Maybe a janitor.”

“Should I be offended that you wouldn’t think me handsome enough to be a supermodel?” Doyoung and his faux offense was fun to play with. Hyunjin had an inkling that he only provided these reactions because he’d somehow discovered her liking for sharp, unexpected comments, but whatever his hidden intention was she didn’t find herself caring too much. Sometimes caring too much was what caused the problems in the first place. “I should have you know that many people have tried scouting me for just my looks in my lifetime – had I not been immortal, I would currently be worldwide famous.”

Hyunjin scoffed. Maybe if she looked close enough, she could see Doyoung up on a stage in front of millions of screaming fans. But then she remembered his old-fashioned manner of speaking, and his strange affinition for paper made of bamboo and decided it would be like her grandfather trying to appeal to the modern world.

“You would probably have a poster of me on your bedroom wall.” Doyoung continued with his fantasy, and Hyunjin momentarily wondered just how much he’d actually considered fame. “I’d be your wallpaper.”

Scrunching her nose, Hyunjin pulled her phone from the pocket of her loose dress pants. “Sorry, Oppa, but the only idol I’m worshipping right now is this one.”

Turning on the phone, a selfie of her and Heejin displayed itself brightly. Heejin had looked particularly beautiful that day, all dressed up with her make-up done by the expertise of Vivi’s delicate hands for a meeting with some of her family’s lawyers. To say that Hyunjin had been smitten would be an understatement. Taking the new phone that Vivi had bought her, she had encouraged a slightly grumpy Heejin to get into frame with her. While Heejin had been distractedly grumbling about Hyunjin’s lack of knowledge in finding the correct lighting, shifting them around so that the light would fall on them exactly how she saw best, Hyunjin had pushed into her space and planted her lips flat on her cheek.

Doyoung raised his eyebrow at her choice of wallpaper, sending an unimpressed glance to check her expression. (The widest, most prideful grin had formed on Hyunjin’s face without her knowing, and he seemed to be very aware of her satisfaction.) “Yes, your human lover is very beautiful.” He said, voice flat. “But has she been scouted in the past before?”

Scoffing at his reasoning, Hyunjin took a second to look at her wallpaper herself before pocketing the device back in her pocket. “That’s because whatever scouters agencies are sending out these days are blind.”

“I would like to disagree with you.” Doyoung lifted his chin with a smug smile on his face, making sure that Hyunjin was watching his act of arrogance. “One came to speak to me just the other day.”

Sparing the older sanguisuge a glance, Hyunjin let herself look him from head to toe once before becoming more interested with the moving figures across the large hall. “Hm… I don’t really understand why, though – you’re not too special.”

A click of the tongue in disapproval and Doyoung was shifting restlessly in his seat. “Can you really say that? You’re not too great yourself, hot shot.”

Hyunjin raised a challenging eyebrow at him, to which he simply blankly stared right back into.

He laughed, his usual clean, quiet laugh that still managed to display just the correct levels of amusement to make his companion feel self-assured. It always managed to clear the air of any possible tension or misunderstandings. “Sometimes you really surprise me of how much you remind me of your unnie.”

It was comments like these that always made Hyunjin look forward to their next meeting. Even when she tried convincing herself that he wasn’t trustworthy after the stunt he had pulled at the syndicate temple.

Doing her best to control her pique in curiosity, Hyunjin glimpsed at him. His expression was reminiscent of good memories, like sunlight bringing promise of the birth of a new age. It withheld any information that may provide useful but provided just the correct amount of wistfulness that had someone giving into temptation and asking more about the history behind it. (Sometimes Hyunjin wished that she could see exactly what he was remembering so that she too could share in his nostalgia.)

Shrugging on the blue jacket of his suit, Doyoung met her eyes with a knowing glint as if he knew exactly what she was wishing for in that moment.

“As much as I would like to go into detail about Jinsoul’s unnecessary bluntness during her hippie phase-“ Hyunjin arched her eyebrows high in amusement, leaning forward from her place. “-I have to debrief you on the context behind this meeting that’s going to be happening in-“ Doyoung made a show of checking the time on his watch. “-ten minutes.”

“’Hippie phase’?” She could still not let that go. How could she let that one go?

Settling her with a playfully reprimanding glare, Doyoung gestured that she stand from the marble ledge. “You should start getting into the mindset of a wily politician.”

“How can I when you just mentioned that Jinsoul-unnie had a _hippie phase_?” Hyunjin almost whined as she grudgingly lifted herself. Her creator had shown her many souvenirs she’d obtained from America when she had visited in the past and had talked about some of her experiences there. But she hadn’t ever talked about what she had done there in great detail. Though considering the timeline in which Jinsoul had gone, it would be right that the times of ‘love not war’ would occur during her stay in America. Laughing freely, Hyunjin reached forward to tug at the sleeve of Doyoung’s suit. “Did she have a flower crown? _Please_ tell me she had a flower crown.”

Making a swiping motion in the air as if swatting her question away, Doyoung avoided her eager eyes. “Oh please, Kim, we _all_ had flower crowns.” He caught the way Hyunjin’s face lit up with unbridled delight and immediately began to panic in the slightest of ways. It showed in the way his eyes widened just that much, and how his heart sped up at Hyunjin’s mouth parting to tease him for his past decisions. “Mind you-“ Increasing his volume so his voice would overpower Hyunjin’s, he gave her a warning glare. “-Jinsoul is surprisingly influential when you’re high on drugs- how was I supposed to say ‘no’ to the Bringer of the New Age?”

Hyunjin continued to laugh freely. Picturing a group of deadly sanguisuges who had only just learnt the English language being led into an entire subculture that revolved around pacifism and non-violence by their assassin leader was somehow so ironic that Hyunjin just had to laugh.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Doyoung glared, a slight flush to the base of his neck near the white collared shirt. “I’m pretty sure this is one of the only chances that we have to make peace with humans, so you need to stop distracting me with flower crowns.”

At the mention of the long-awaited meeting, Hyunjin held a hand to her mouth to try and stifle her grin. “Yes, Master Doyoung.”

“Kim Doyoung.”

Whatever had been on the older sanguisuge’s tongue was cut off by the commanding voice echoing throughout the large lobby hall. Making sure to give Hyunjin one last warning glare – even going to the lengths of flashing his dark blue eyes at her – Doyoung turned to the set of footsteps making their way toward them.

With an amicable smile, controlled of any excessive emotions that were unnecessary for polite small talk, Doyoung welcomed the other sanguisuges. “Irene, how are these dark days treating you?”

The woman had been present at Jinsoul’s trial at the syndicate. Had sat amongst the group of Elders who had carried out the trial with her faint pink eyes. She and Doyoung were the only other surviving Elders after the slaughtering. Hyunjin had never spoken to her directly, never really managing to be of enough importance so that the sanguisuges forming the alliance would ask for her opinion, but she had watched from afar how their discourses went. And although she was quieter than some other sanguisuges were when expressing their anger, she never held back from voicing her opinions even if they were to be easily disputed.

Hyunjin was very much aware of her opinion to overthrow the human government by murdering every single one of them as slowly as they had murdered the sanguisuges she had grown up with.

Irene, with her breath-taking features and formal attire, paced toward them with the clacking of her heels against the stone floors of the lobby. “I’m enjoying this withdrawal of food as much as the next person,” she muttered under her breath, though she didn’t need to speak much louder when she was surrounded by a group of sanguisuges with incredible hearing abilities. “The animal blood may be a kind alternative, but I can’t say it’s very easy to stomach when in comparison to human blood in the past.”

Behind her, two other sanguisuges followed after her, one male and one female. They scowled in agreement, scrunching their noses in distaste.

“Which is why we need to broach this deal with the humans, so that they can start donating their blood to us again.” Vivi was not too far behind them, still pulling at the sleeves of her dress shirt so that it would sit nicely on her. At the sound of her voice, all sanguisuges turned to acknowledge her with respectful nods, to which she responded back to with one of her own. “Just the fact that they are willing to have this meeting with us alone should give us hope that there is still a chance to bridge our two species again. We all know why we can’t just… tear their spines from their backs.” She spared a knowing glance to Irene, who quietly huffed through her nose.

Hyunjin hid any of her thoughts behind a stoic expression. Even as Vivi came to stand beside her and placed a hand behind her back as a form of ‘hello’, she only briefly met her eyes to return the gesture. She was aware that she was technically not welcome into the sanguisuge community due to her very late turning, and she should not act out of turn because of it.

Unnerved clicking could be heard among them, making their heads swivel with precaution towards the male sanguisuge who was holding a biro in one hand and a small, hand-sized notebook in the other. He was nervously alternating between staring intensely at Doyoung, who was calmly filling Irene and the female sanguisuge in on the details, and Hyunjin, who had been trying her best to keep her composure amongst the powerful creatures. There was something about the way he stared at her, though, that made her want to scrape glass along her skin.

His glare was charged, though meek at once.

“Is something wrong, Seoham?” Vivi frowned at the restless sanguisuge, who flinched when he registered his own name.

Eyes darting between Vivi and Hyunjin – who’s instincts were beginning to flare up uncomfortably – his lips mouthed around unsaid thoughts that seemed to race behind the concerned brown hues. “She-“ He was gesturing to Hyunjin. “She’s Master Jinsoul’s creation, is she not?”

At the mention of her creator’s name, Hyunjin felt her heart clench. It wasn’t as painful as it had been during the first couple of months, but she couldn’t help but miss her still.

The name caught the rest of the sanguisuges’ attention, all of them turning to stare at the tension festering between Hyunjin and Seoham. Doyoung’s shoulders had pulled from their previously lax and casual state that signified a healthy candor, to higher to his ears in a protective stance. His stance, although not changing majorly, showed a wariness that implied he wasn’t too unprepared for an attack on Hyunjin. Which managed to surprise Hyunjin, because she hadn’t really expected anyone but Vivi to help her fend for her life if need be.

When Vivi took too long to reply, lost in her own stream of thoughts, Seoham looked questioningly towards Doyoung. “I thought that- well… was it not revealed that she was not like… us?”

As if a cold coil had wrapped itself around her, Hyunjin felt the breath squeeze out of her lungs.

There were many times where she forgot that she wasn’t a regular sanguisuge like the rest of them. Contented, she let herself sink into the lifestyle of a sanguisuge, drinking the human blood that Haseul provided from her own endeavors, learning sanguisuge techniques and pieces of history from Vivi, referring herself as one of them when asked by the likes of Yeojin and Hyejoo. Times when she’d be pulled from her sleep – gently dragged from subconsciousness by what seemed to be a guiding hand – that she would feel a strange sort of force budding from within her body… Hyunjin discovered it easier to push to the back of her head and forget about. Yet relentlessly, small hints of butterflies and birds swept into her dreams, and blonde and greens wrapped around her dotingly in her sleep.

Most of the time, Hyunjin forgot about the presence that seemed to linger in the back of her head, much too preoccupied with hunting down loose hellhounds or customers’ orders at the coffee shop or making sure that Heejin distressed after a long day.

Except there would be times when Hyunjin would meet Chaewon’s eyes, with her newly dyed blonde hair and much too hopeful gaze, and Hyunjin would remember the voice telling her to go against the people that she loved. And as much as she didn’t want to hurt her friend by avoiding her, Hyunjin found herself doing just that.

They had yet to talk about what Gowon had done to her.

“What do you suggest?” Doyoung’s voice was cool, reminiscent of the scene at the syndicate temple with the setting sun due south and many eyes fixed on the two commanding figures at its center.

Seoham flinched once more, appearing to grow more anxious by the minute as questioning sanguisuge eyes bore into him for answers. Momentarily, he sought refuge in the other female sanguisuge, but when he got a questioning stare in return, he only seemed to pitifully shrink further in on himself as if a deer cornered by a pack of wolves. “I wasn’t suggesting anything, Master.” Words did not match the tone, and Hyunjin let herself search his face inquisitively. “I was merely pointing out the fact that she is a new-born without a creator – should she really be dealing with crucial matters such as these when the relations of humans and sanguisuges are on the brink of defeat?”

Pressure eased off as the female sanguisuge that had approached with him and Irene both turned to look questioningly at Doyoung. The synchronization in which they did so was enough for Hyunjin to know that they had discussed this before-hand. That they saw her as a threat to their community because of her lack of experience and age. Because to them – her creator had died during the trials of the syndicate, and she perhaps had a vendetta against them.

“Shouldn’t the fact that she is a new-born benefit us?” Stone clicked under the heel of Doyoung’s shoe as he stepped forward. An abrupt influx of testosterone and adrenaline had Hyunjin’s head swimming from the over-stimulation and immediately she remembered to try to breathe as little as possible through her nose. “She is of the modern age – grew up in their culture and has been affected by it in a way which we cannot perceive – if anyone is to understand what links us to them, it’s her. There is no need to worry about a lack of guidance – Lady Viian has that covered and has been teaching her well.” His intimidation techniques seemed to be working on Seoham, who bowed his head in surrender even before Doyoung had finished his sentence. “While I do not partake with your pessimistic outlook on our situation, I do understand where it is coming from and will not belittle it. I’m also angry about what happened to our people – I too wish to drain every single man in there of his blood-“ His comment managed to draw a smirk on Irene’s face. “-but we will win this battle a different way. You just need to have faith in us.”

Deeming him appropriately reprimanded, Doyoung shared his serotonin in an attempt to show he was not angry with him.

“You understand my troubles, Seoham?” Doyoung softened his voice as he stretched out a hand for the other sanguisuge, an evident peace-offering.

Hyunjin shook off the unease that had frozen her muscles to stone. It felt better knowing that someone as powerful as Doyoung had her back even if she had done nothing exceptional to prove herself worthy of this treatment. She supposed it had something to do with the way he referred to Jinsoul so fondly from his memories.

Something burned inside of Seoham’s eyes as he raised his face from where he had tucked his chin close to his chest. It reminded her a little too much of Hyejoo’s expression whenever she would completely ignore what Hyunjin told her to do and wreak unnecessary havoc with her dark energy when it could have been easily avoided if she’d just listened to Hyunjin. Just the memory had Hyunjin twitching anxiously in place, drawing the attention of Vivi from beside her. The latter wordlessly looked between her eyes and registered her unease.

The tension eased from the air when Seoham and Doyoung clasped hands.

But Hyunjin could feel the beginnings of something stirring.

-

_“The least you could do is apologize for being rude to her.”_

“Why? I’m not trying to make friends here; I’m just doing my job.”

_“Last I checked, for someone to have a job they have to get payed for their efforts. Tell me where you’ve been hiding your pay checks and maybe then I’ll agree with you.”_

Hyejoo growled. She sat herself firmly down on the makeshift seat she had made herself with a tree stump in the middle of the garden of the estate. Even if she had no connections to the people who lived within the estate ( _lies, you literally work with Hyunjin and Chaewon to hunt down hellhounds and Yeojin seems to completely adore you_ ) its garden just outside the main entrance provided the perfect place where she could sit down and easily transport herself into Olivia’s headspace.

Her apartment back in the city was much too small and crowded with what little belongings she owned, and the nearest park within walking distance barely had any greenery and was infested with drug dealers who thought it wise to exchange products for money in a public place. Hyejoo tried to stay out of the streets as much as she could. Every night the abysmal sounds of conflict in the nearby, beaten down bars would play like a soundtrack to some improvised fight scene. Not even reaching midnight, there would be the air splitting sounds of the dumpsters lining the streets cracking down onto neglected roads and pavements, but if it was a good night then fights would just dwindle down to the splintering of alcohol bottles and pained groans. And to end the movie that would play out in Hyejoo’s head as she restlessly lay on her barren mattress, the notoriously tardy police would turn up several minutes too late with their blaring sirens and alarms. (If it was a particularly bad night, then the ambulance would chase after.)

_“I don’t understand why you don’t move in like everyone else did, this is possibly the biggest building we have ever seen.”_

Resolutely ignoring the persistent voice in her head, Hyejoo concentrated on the strong presence in the back of her head. She hoped that Olivia would just stop thinking about trivial things and help her, unlike all those other times where she had been too busy lost in her own mind trying to search for a connection to Yves or Gowon. It always took much longer to access the deity’s headspace when she was unreceptive, and it required a lot of patience from her end.

_“Which you obviously do not have.”_

Before Hyejoo could snap back at the cheeky comment, she felt the familiar pressure around the column of her neck and then her vision being vacuumed from the garden scenery in front of her. If Hyejoo had to describe the experience, she would most likely compare it to some kind of astral projection. At first, it had been wildly disorientating and had her throwing up right after Olivia spat her consciousness back out into her own headspace. But the repeated meetings that they would have because of both of their stubbornness meant that Hyejoo had to force herself to adapt to the abrupt change in environment, and now she knew that if she kept a part of herself aware of the surroundings she had initially started with, then it wouldn’t be too bad when she returned to herself.

The first thing that greeted Hyejoo was a slightly moody Olivia, with her hair styled neatly down her back as always and a childish pout on her lips.

Then there was a harsh slap to the back of Hyejoo’s head that had her surging forwards and stumbling to regain her balance. “What the fuck, Oli!” She clasped the back of her head with on of her hands, the other using the outstretched hand for support when she gained her footing.

With a chastised motion, the large leaf that had spontaneously sprouted from shrubbery retreated back in on itself.

“You deserved that.” Olivia helped tug Hyejoo up, the distaste on her face reflecting on the flora around them that was more desaturated than its usual vibrancy. At first, Hyejoo had found it slightly disconcerting to have her own face staring back at her, pulling expressions that she had never made before with her own facial muscles and saying things with her voice that she would never think to say. But after a couple of years, it was easier to see Olivia as her own person rather than as a piece of her. “And don’t think you can get out of this by flattering me, mortal.”

Hyejoo rolled her eyes. Sometimes she forgot that Olivia had full access to her thoughts. “I wasn’t flattering you, dumbass, I was just thinking.”

With familiarity in both of their movements, they walked further through the shrubbery and tall, yet thin trunks of trees. A strange flash of color that shone among the monochromatic background of Olivia’s headspace had Hyejoo turning her head in curiosity. She hadn’t really known what to expect, and maybe she should have seen this coming after knowing Olivia for so long, but the admittedly beautiful flower blooming brightly amongst the nearly black leaves caught her off guard.

Ignoring Olivia’s questions, Hyejoo walked towards the strangely vibrant flower, treading carefully on the fallen leaves that spread throughout the forest floor. Shaking, her hand extended out towards the white petals spreading outwards in different directions.

“Be careful,” Olivia’s voice was full of concern and mild panic. Her footsteps approached quickly, clearly afraid that Hyejoo would do something to harm the unusual flora that bloomed among the darkness of the forest. “Flowers are very delicate and you’re- well, just don’t snap the petals off.”

Feeling inexplicably sensitive at the comment, Hyejoo glared at the deity out of the corner of her eye. With the back of her forefinger, Hyejoo let her hand run along the small blank petal. Its texture was soft against her skin, its weight giving way under the trembling pressure of her touch. Sure, she had a particular affinity for destruction – it was always easier to tear something down rather than dance around it or try to build on an already broken structure – but that didn’t mean that she would kill everything she lay her hands on.

Still, Hyejoo backed away from the flower before her shaky hands could do any damage.

Distracted, Olivia tended to the flora as soon as Hyejoo backed away. The leaves of the trees forming a canopy above them parted slowly to allow a gateway for light to shine through, falling greedily onto the flower’s petals and feeding it with life and attention. Quietly mumbling under her breath, Olivia’s hair fell to shield her face. Her hands expertly danced around the plant as if it were a live creature, attentive to its every need and loving with every swift movement even as she brushed away specks of dirt from its pure petals. Hyejoo watched with confusion and fascination as the deity tended to the flower like it was a small little animal.

“The petals are meant to be blue and purple,” Olivia said, not even looking up from where she made sure the flower perched in a perfect position for growth. “It’s taken me a while to make something like this grow, but I’ve managed it.” There was dignity and pride all over her smile as she leaned back and stared at the flower adoringly.

“What’s its name?” Hyejoo asked, unable to keep herself from the curiosity of seeing Olivia so content.

Olivia frowned and looked over to her. “Name? Isn’t it a flower?”

Hyejoo rolled her eyes. Sometimes she forgot that the deity could be pretty dumb.

“I’m not dumb.” Olivia quickly interjected, her spine straightening with authority and annoyance. “Just because someone doesn’t share the same customs and culture as you, it doesn’t mean that they are any less intelligent – how many times have I had to explain this to you?” When the only response the deity got in return was a sigh, she walked closer to her mortal counterpart. “It’s not as if you could specifically tell me how we deities are able to travel between the plains of existence or describe what I look like without a host to take over.”

Not quite admitting defeat but deciding to let Olivia establish her point into the fresh atmosphere between them, Hyejoo let her gaze gravitate towards the strangely formed petals. “Humans give like… different names to different looking flowers.” Hyejoo had always found it difficult explaining every-day-concepts that had been ingrained into her since she was little to someone who had only just been learning how mortals interacted. Whenever Olivia asked about something as simple as why were certain animals not called the same thing when they looked so similar, just as all dogs were dogs when they looked nothing alike, Hyejoo just turned on whatever documentary she could find on YouTube and let that explain it for her. “You know how there are some big dogs, like Huskies?” That had been Olivia’s favorite breed. “And small dogs, like Pomeranians? We do that to flowers too.”

Olivia made a sound of understanding, turning to look at the small flower. “So… this one has a name? And it’s not ‘flower’…”

Hyejoo nodded, feeling a slight rush of gratification through her as she saw Olivia understand the concept. Maybe she wasn’t as stupid as some of the people from her school liked to call her. “If you want, we can try to find the name of this specific flower?”

Grinning, Olivia turned to look at her. There was that trigger of excitement in her eyes as they formed around her smile that gave away her happiness. “Hyejoo, are you getting soft on me?” The deity teased.

Maybe it was because Olivia seemed to be mostly clueless on most things that had to do with human culture, and because Hyejoo had literally had to teach her everything she knew from scratch (watching documentaries had been a bore until she’d had Olivia’s voice piping up in the back of her head, keeping her company through the lulling narration and bland information) but Hyejoo felt a strange affection towards the deity. As if she were looking after her little sister instead of being possessed by some other being. It was a natural reaction at this point for her to reach out and scuff the top of her head, messing up the neat strands of hair.

She knew that Olivia had heard her thoughts when her eyes softened into a more mature tone. And then it was almost as if she had aged twenty years at once despite the lack of appearance change, staring at Hyejoo so fondly that the latter almost thought she was looking into the face of her mother-

“Are you going to apologize to Chaewon, then?”

Surprised at the sudden question, Hyejoo let her eyes chase after Olivia’s retreating figure. She had just been about to let out a string of insults nit-picking at Olivia’s behavior, but the deity had jumped at the chance to change the topic before her. And it wasn’t like Olivia was unfamiliar with Hyejoo’s past memories and experiences. Hyejoo just wondered if she had changed the topic for her sake, or for her own.

Following the deity’s sure steps, Hyejoo registered the question. “I already told you that there is no reason for me to do so.”

“There certainly is when you made the poor girl cry.” Olivia grew animated once more, her feet scuffing at the fallen leaves and low sprouting shrubbery. The deity’s increasing interest in the blonde host was beginning to prove a headache for Hyejoo, who wanted nothing to do with her other than when they had to hunt down hellhounds together. Even then, the other host proved useless and always managed to put herself in harm’s way. “It’s not the first time you’ve done that, too! I’m not telling you to be friends with her but the least you can do is try to be amicable.”

“Well considering how you’re always looking for ways to jump out whenever she’s close, I can’t really agree with your ‘not making friends’ statement.” Hyejoo sat down on the familiar throne of leaves that Olivia had puffed up for her to sit comfortably. As if knowing exactly what she needed, the throne moulded itself beneath her body and encased her body while she tilted back to stare at the canopy. “You were the one that said something weird to her, and I had to clean up after you which made me say something rude.”

Making a noise of offense, Olivia waited for her to finish talking before whining. “I can’t help it! Gowon is somewhere inside her and it’s bad enough that she’s hiding herself away,” the genuine concern stopped Hyejoo from talking over her. “Gowon has never hidden from _anything_ , not even Yves when she got angry at us – or the other deity that was always with us, but you humans don’t have a name for her.”

“And that’s our problem why?” Hyejoo really didn’t understand what was so important about Olivia finding Yves, but it wasn’t like the deity had ever really told her anyway.

“Because with Gowon, I’m so much stronger.”

Scrunching her nose, Hyejoo tilted her head to look at Olivia. “That’s disgusting,” she watched as the other’s face dissolved into confusion and offense. “I know you’re in love with her and everything, but you don’t have to say cheap things like that.”

Catching onto what Hyejoo was trying to imply, Olivia merely made one of the leaves hanging above her pelt downwards and smack her in the center of her forehead. Speaking over her string of curses, Olivia leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “You think you’re so smart with your sarcasm.” Hyejoo mumbled a ‘yes, I do’ but Olivia smacked her again with the same leaf. “I meant that my powers are literally stronger whenever I am fighting with Gowon – it’s easier to regain my strength and everything is so much clearer.” There’s a small pause. “Kind of like a portable charger.”

“A portable-“ Barking out an unexpected bout of laughter, Hyejoo pictured the small, angry blonde that had been trying to murder them several months ago and likened her to her small portable charger that liked to overheat and burn her thigh. Which was most likely where Olivia had gotten the imagery from. “Yeah, I can see blondie as a portable charger.”

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Olivia tilted her chin up pridefully, staring her down as she laughed to her heart’s content. “It was a perfectly good analogy.”

Through her laughter, Hyejoo managed to wheeze out, “I never said it wasn’t.”

When Olivia rolled her eyes in a similar way Hyejoo would have done if she were annoyed, the human almost thought that they’d been spending far too much time together if the deity was beginning to pick up on her mannerisms. But then again, they were attached at the mind and around one another constantly, so it wasn’t like it could be helped.

“What I’m trying to say, is that with Gowon on our side it would be so much easier to find Yves.” Olivia leaned forwards once more, eagerness in her expression. “This is part of our deal: I keep you alive and you help me find my long-lost other-fourth or whatever.”

“Quarter,” Hyejoo said, supplying the correction before she could stop herself. It wasn’t like she was some math genius or anything – in fact, she absolutely abhorred math out of all of her subjects at school – but after Olivia had insisted on watching some math tutorial videos when she’d been refusing to do her homework, she had to admit that some of the knowledge had been ingrained into her head. She’d even gotten a pretty high score in her next test, which had surprised the students as much as it had done the teachers. Maybe it was because Olivia seemed to have a really good memory and had spent the whole test whispering the answers to her in the back of her head.

“Please, Hyejoo, you promised that it would be my turn to pick a lead.” She didn’t like it when Olivia would plead for something, because Hyejoo would be essentially staring at herself begging like a little kid for candy. But she remembered the promise she had made the last time they had been chasing for Yves and had almost ended up dying if it weren’t for Olivia’s quick thinking. She supposed that she owed her, or whatever. “Thank you! I promise that you can make the situation as clear as you want to Chaewon, but as long as we manage to get Gowon to help then I’m happy.”

Hyejoo raised her eyebrows at the large grin on Olivia’s face, almost horrified with how much her face looked like a child’s when she smiled that wide. “Yeah whatever.”

When Hyejoo returned to the estate, her fingers were stiff on her thighs where she’d had her hands rested. The weather was beginning to grow colder after the summer heat had passed, the tan on her skin beginning to fade back to its usual paleness. This summer had been the first one in a while where her skin had colored golden along with the balmy sun from sitting so long in the gardens while she stayed in Olivia’s headspace. Now that cloudier days were beginning to seep into the calendar, it was easier for her skin to retain its original pale pigment she’d had when she hid herself away in her apartment.

Autumn was here, which meant she could dress herself in her baggy sweaters and not have strangers stare at her like she was out of her mind.

Shoving her hands deep into the front pocket of her dark maroon hoodie, Hyejoo lazily strolled along the gravel footpath. It was a weekend, which meant that there was no school for her to attend. Maybe she’d be able to get back to her apartment and play the first-person shooter games on her phone until her hands couldn’t hold the burning device anymore and her eyes were sore from staring at the glaring screen. ( _Or you could find Chaewon and tell her get Gowon to help us_?) Yeah, Hyejoo had been meaning to try that new game she had spent some money while buying it from the game store. There had been talk about it being the next best one on the market. With all the storage space that it had taken up, she had high hopes that it wouldn’t be anything like its shitty beta version that had her rage quitting twenty minutes in.

She was lost in her thoughts of what she would be eating for dinner – deciding between a cheap packet of jjajangmyeon and leftover dumplings she’d bought yesterday – when sharp movement caught her attention from the grand entrance of the estate.

 _“That’s Yeojin.”_ Olivia chimed helpfully for her when Hyejoo simply squinted at the figure in the distance. _“Also, I think we should consider investing in getting you some glasses.”_

“Too expensive,” Hyejoo said quietly, picking up her pace so that she could catch up to the fast-moving girl. She hadn’t seen Yeojin leave the estate during the weekends in the past several months that she’d been living there, and the younger girl hadn’t ranted about any exciting adventures she’d had the following Monday at school. (It was Yeojin, of course she would share whatever activity she had done with her.) If she did have to leave, then it would be with the company of one of the other girls in the estate per her older sister’s orders. “Plus, it’s not like I really need them when you’re my glasses – does Yeojin look like she’s being a little shit?”

There was a sharp, pricking sensation in the back of her neck, noting Hyejoo of Olivia’s disapproval. _“I do not know what your requirements for ‘little shit’ are, but I do know that she doesn’t look particularly pleased.”_

Judging from the hasty movements that the girl was making, Hyejoo could infer her discomfort even as a blurry blob in the distance. Yeojin may have had an excess amount of energy in her everyday life, but she usually expressed it through small, irritating hops that had Hyejoo pushing her mid-air so she would fall and long rants about something or other that formed headaches in the early morning. Although slightly clumsy, the small girl was never imprecise with her movement on a normal day. Maybe on days where she was too energetic for her own good or when she was angry at something one of their peers had done to annoy them. (Rightfully so, though Hyejoo got her revenge in a more direct manner. If people ended up accidentally tipping into Bunsen burners or tripping over thin airs near the stairs, it was none of her business.) But never stumbling over herself every other step.

Seeing that Yeojin wasn’t going to stop at the beginning of the gravel path that lead from the estate and to the main road, Hyejoo widened the distance between her steps. Whatever the small girl was up to, it set the alarms off in her head.

Just when she was thinking of using dark energy to get Yeojin’s attention, Olivia intentionally tried pushing forward for control and had the choker around Hyejoo’s neck tighten. Having successfully gathered Hyejoo’s attention, Olivia eased off. _“At least try calling her name before you accidentally incinerate her.”_

As if Hyejoo was going to embarrass herself by shouting out her name. It wasn’t like she cared about Yeojin. ( _You lack brain cells_.)

She had to stop showing Olivia memes.

Jogging as quietly as possible on the gravel path, Hyejoo managed to catch up to the surprisingly fast girl. As casually as she could, Hyejoo fell into step with Yeojin with her hands shoved back into her large front pocket, staring straight ahead and waiting for the younger girl to notice her. She knew something was wrong when it took her more than five seconds to acknowledge her presence.

“Leave me alone, Unnie.”

Hyejoo snapped her eyes to Yeojin.

Barely containing the surprise from her face, she observed the red-rimmed eyes and blushed cheeks, just barely glistening in the gray light from the overcast skies. She had seen Yeojin cry once before, and that had been when she was getting cornered by that pack of girls at school. Anyone would have cried if they had been in her position, though, so Hyejoo didn’t really think much of it. So now that she was met with an emotional Yeojin, who usually brushed everything off her shoulder with a quick-witted comment and a sarcastic attitude that went hand in hand with hers, Hyejoo felt a surge of protectiveness rising from within her chest.

“Who are we going to kill?” It caught her off-guard. The sudden impulse to destroy whatever had made Yeojin this upset. In the past, she’d thought it had just been her own anger towards people who thought themselves above people in ‘weak’ positions. Somehow along the way it had morphed to an aggressive care for the younger girl.

Before she could process these… alarming thoughts further, Yeojin was making a disgusting snotty sound as she wiped at her face.

“Ugh, get yourself a tissue or something.” Hyejoo grimaced, making sure to distance herself from the smaller girl at a safe enough distance. She met the sideways glare with her own glare of repugnance. “Don’t look at me like that wasn’t gross – blow your nose, stupid.”

“You’re really mean, you know that?” Yeojin grumbled as she pulled at the small backpack from her shoulders. It had pins of animation characters clinging onto the surface, even lining the straps nicely and bedazzled with colorful sequins. Hyejoo recognised some of the Studio Ghibli characters, having an admittedly guilty pleasure for the nostalgic movies whenever she was going through a rough time. Not that she’d watched one since she was ten. ( _Why do you lie to yourself? We watched one a couple of days ago._ ) At least only she could hear Olivia’s highly unnecessary commentary. “Why are you even here? It’s the weekend, shouldn’t you be at home?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Hyejoo flinched at the loud sounds of Yeojin blowing her nose, pretending to gag when she saw the younger girl glaring at her.

“If you came to see Chaewon-unnie, she’s actually in her room.”

“Why would I have come to see _her_?” Hyejoo frowned at Yeojin as she distractedly wrapped her used up tissue with another clean one before stuffing it into the pocket of her jacket. She was pretty sure she’d never expressed any interest towards the blonde girl. She didn’t understand why everyone was suddenly trying to get her to talk to the host when they had nothing in common. ( _I don’t want to hear it_ , she said to Olivia before the deity could speak.) “That’s not the point – where are you in such a rush to go off to?”

They began to near the main road, the roaring of vehicles rushing by swelling as they continued their quick pace. “I’m going to go see the Shin’s – I want to talk to them about their older sister who just graduated uni.”

“The Shin’s?” Hyejoo grabbed at Yeojin’s elbow, stopping her from walking momentarily. “You know that they’re involved in witchcraft, right?”

Sticking her tongue out childishly, Yeojin tugged her arm away and continued on her power-walk. “I know who the Shin’s are.” Shock still clasping onto her mind, Hyejoo followed after the small girl purely out of irritation that she was being ignored so blatantly. “The fact that they do witchcraft is the _exact_ reason why I’m going to talk to them. They literally know that all of these supernatural people are walking around and they’ve managed to keep it a secret! Who else is gonna be a better candidate to represent vampires in a court battle?”

Hyejoo felt her heart skip a beat in her chest. “Whoa hold up- a court battle? What the hell are you trying to get yourself involved in now?”

“Vivi-unnie is trying to find a lawyer that can argue the human laws so that vampires are pardoned for what happened at the science laboratory – even though it wasn’t their fault that those people died either way, it was that psychopath’s-“

“Hey wait,” Hyejoo clasped Yeojin’s wrist, though didn’t try to stop her from walking this time. Whenever she was with Yeojin, everything just managed to happen so quickly that she barely had enough time to register her own thoughts. For such a small girl, she sure enjoyed moving quickly. “How do you know so much about what’s happening? I’m pretty sure your sister is a full-on helicopter mom and threatened me not to tell you anything – she probably censors information better than the government themselves.”

At the mention of her sister, Yeojin’s expression soured and her eyes glanced back to where they had come from. “Pretty hard for her to censor anything when Yerim can hear everything.”

When Hyejoo tried to remember who ‘Yerim’ was, her mind came up blank. She had always been terrible with names. It wasn’t like she was going to interact with them in the future anyway.

“Anyway, I DMed Yuna this morning and they’re gonna meet me outside the mall near our school so we can talk.” Yeojin continued on with her plan, pulling her phone out from her pocket and checking the screen for something in particular. “I ordered a lift before talking to Vivi-unnie in case she said ‘no’ to my plan – which obviously she was going to do, because she’s apparently just as bad as my sister – and it’s literally just two minutes away. Now, are you gonna come say ‘hi’ to the Shin’s or do you wanna go back to the estate so you can finally talk out whatever conflict is between you and Chaewon-unnie?”

Stumped, Hyejoo just blankly stared at the smaller girl. Yeojin had always been pretty impulsive. Although that had been subdued by the group of bitches at school, it managed to show through when she had dragged them into that old temple thing in search for Hyunjin when her sister had specifically told them to stay put.

But the Shin’s? Sure, Hyejoo had accidentally introduced Ryujin to Yeojin when they had been exchanging summer stories, but she hadn’t expected Yeojin to take the fact that her family did black magic in their spare time so well. She especially hadn’t expected Ryujin’s younger sister, Yuna, to take such a liking to Yeojin and vice versa.

It wasn’t like Hyejoo and Ryujin were friends. Hyejoo just didn’t judge Ryujin for being decorated in piercings that held small talismans for protection and strength and whatever charm the girl had worked into it. Many of the students at school were terrified of the image that Ryujin exuded with her mostly stoic expressions and heavily studded ears and rings around her hands. Ryujin didn’t question the dark presence that loomed over Hyejoo at all times other than the first time they had met, where the witch had asked her if she was aware that it was there and if it was safe for it to be there. The difference between the two of them was that Ryujin manged to form herself a small group of people who had the talent for black magic, and Hyejoo preferred to stay to herself.

If Yeojin got involved with Ryujin’s witchcraft, who knew to what lengths Yeojin would go to with black magic? She was already curious enough with Olivia’s powers.

As the unfamiliar car pulled off from the main road and onto the little section to the side, gravel crunching beneath the weight of the tyres, Yeojin looked up at Hyejoo questioningly. “I’m going. Whether you’re coming or not.”

Well, Hyejoo had to get her choker reupdated at some point.

“You’re a little shit, you know that?” Hyejoo slid herself into the back of the car as Yeojin held the door open for her, as if she already knew what the older girl was going to decide.

With a small smirk on her face, Yeojin pushed her along so she could sit too. “You can’t really talk.”

Hyejoo snorted in amusement before looking out of the window. Someone had to watch over Yeojin while she carried out her stupid plans.

-

Heejin had thought about meeting Sooyoung in the café. After talking with Hyunjin about the confrontation that they had, she revealed that the older girl apparently held a particular liking to the shop and liked to visit frequently.

(At least that’s what Hyunjin said, but they both doubted her ability to recollect memories of those who did not interest her. In the span of a couple of months, Hyunjin had already managed to forget Yeojin even lived in the estate with her and had asked why she was staying for dinner so often. When Heejin had found out about this story from Haseul, she hadn’t known whether to laugh or to scold Hyunjin for being so insensitive when she next saw her.)

Hyunjin had been made aware of Sooyoung’s antics through many of Heejin’s rants. It seemed as if the older girl refused to rest – always sending men to her apartment to intimidate her into meeting her father or remind her that her rights to owning her childhood home would be revoked very soon. And Hyunjin was many things. If she was displeased with something, she wouldn’t be afraid to show it, and if she deemed something unwarranted and downright unjustified then it would be her duty to make sure that all parties involved in the conflict knew that she wasn’t happy with their decisions. Vengeful wasn’t the word that Heejin would use, but rather petty. It wasn’t as if her revenge plots usually carried through (not for a lack of wanting, but because she’d always had someone – Heejin – there to tell her it was daft to do so).

It had taken a small explanation from Haseul as to why Hyunjin shouldn’t find out the location of Sooyoung’s home and wake her in the middle of the night to scare her into her mattress with her yellow eyes and sharp fangs. Albeit reluctant, Hyunjin had agreed not to threaten the late source of Heejin’s troubles.

The next best course of action had been to ban Sooyoung from the café. Heejin had asked her whether she even had the power to make a decision like that, and judging from the way she had too readily said that ‘yeah, all I have to do is tell Jiwoo-unnie and everything will be set’ she deduced that Hyunjin did not, in fact, have the ability to ban Sooyoung from visiting the coffee shop. (Much to both Heejin’s and Hyunjin’s dismay.)

Taking everything into stride – including her wariness with the prospect of meeting Sooyoung in a private location – Heejin thought that the next best thing to do would be to meet Sooyoung at the food court of a mall.

So finally replying to the borderline harassment via text, Heejin told Sooyoung that she would be open to sitting down and talking about whatever it was that the girl had been so desperate to talk about these past several months. At first, confidence and power had elevated her when she sent her well-worded message. She thought that perhaps that had caught the normally self-assured girl off-guard, because her message had been left on ‘read’ for almost the entire length of the day. But then Heejin had been so anxious, wondering what exactly Sooyoung was playing at by luring her into responding and letting her drown in her own suspense, that Yerim had gathered the impulse to ask her if she was waiting for someone to text her. And purely out of coincidence, Sooyoung had decided to respond to her text then.

Which was why Heejin was sat amidst a bunch of tables, her stomach coiling so uncomfortably that she was barely bothered by the tantalizing scent of meat and other delicacies gifted by surrounding restaurants. Her appetite had been significantly crushed and reduced to just small glances to the menu of the Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant in her line of vision. (Maybe she should find the time to invite Hyunjin out for a date – they seemed to be serving several dishes that her girlfriend would enjoy.)

Of course, it wouldn’t be Ha Sooyoung if she didn’t have an ounce of influence over what happened in Heejin’s life, so the mall she was sat in wasn’t one she had ever been to.

If it weren’t for Yerim’s ubiquitous presence hanging around somewhere nearby, maybe Heejin would have cancelled the entire meeting and told Sooyoung that she could shove her intentions and conversations up her ass.

But she had endured her thoughts racing around her mind in a never-ending circuit long enough to finally watch the familiar figure sit down across her.

“Ah, Heejin,” Sooyoung said, pushing her long, beige trench coat off from her shoulders and hanging it on the back of the rigid metallic chairs. It was unusual to see her without the uniform crop top, but Heejin had to admit that the loose white top was a nice change of pace for once. “Have you eaten?” As if this was something that they did routinely, Sooyoung shifted in her chair until she had fixed herself comfortably enough for her taste, the sounds of metal scraping against the concrete floor making this entire situation more awkward. “I’m starving, I’ve been cutting back since I’m on a diet right now.”

Heejin didn’t know what Sooyoung was up to with her abruptly pleasant personality and welcoming conversation, but she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from replying that she hadn’t had breakfast either. (She’d been busy making phone calls and making sure that her second meeting of the day hadn’t been cancelled.)

Noting her lack of reply, Sooyoung briefly looked up from where she’d been scanning the promotional flyer of one of the independent Korean restaurants. (Which surprised Heejin, because Sooyoung dressed and behaved like she came from money. Had it been one of her older friends from school, they’d be pouring over the four-star restaurant right beside the small business. But she wasn’t here to analyze Sooyoung’s preferences for food.)

“Everything okay?” She asked, as if clueless to how their dynamic had been working thus far.

Deciding to play her game, Heejin rolled her fingers into the palms of her hands to steel herself. “I’m also pretty hungry, but I’ve never been to this mall before,” she said. She internally cursed at the shakiness in her voice. “Do you recommend that restaurant?”

Not even bothering to hide the surprise from her face, Sooyoung raised her eyebrows and almost smiled at Heejin’s response. For several moments, she bore her dark eyes right into Heejin’s uncertain yet stubborn gaze. Heejin’s heart almost burst at the seams from the sudden fix of fear that injected itself into her veins. And then Sooyoung was scraping her secretive eyes right back to the flyer in her hand, turning it over as if inspecting the back though doing so far too quick for it to be unfamiliar. “Yeah, I go there every once in a while,” she said nonchalantly, “it’s not as good as the restaurant beside it but the man who runs it gives me discounts and who’s not gonna turn down free food?”

Something moved haphazardly from behind Sooyoung. Unsuspectingly, Heejin’s eyes darted to the movement.

When she saw Yerim’s familiar figure lounging on one of the far tables, Heejin immediately looked back towards Sooyoung’s face and schooled her expression. Fortunately, Sooyoung had been intently staring at what seemed to be a new special offer and hadn’t noticed the mild slide show of expressions that had been presented on Heejin’s face.

“Right…” Heejin forced once she realised she had let the silence draw out for too long.

“I think I’ll order myself something to eat, I might faint from how hungry I am.” Sooyoung said it out loud, though from the way she barely moved her lips around the words it was more of a self-statement more than anything. Heejin briefly wondered if the older girl did that a lot, because it had been one of her bad habits until her mother had told her ‘only stupid people talk to themselves’ and made her cry into her pillow, so it would make sense if her sister- “I’m gonna order something for you too. You look a little weak around the bones.”

Heejin grimaced, though tried passing it off as a smile. It pacified Sooyoung enough for her attention to be drawn back to the menu again.

When something shone brightly into her eye, Heejin flinched and looked back in Yerim’s direction.

Annoyance crept up inside of her. She had specifically told Yerim to stay out of plain sight where Sooyoung wouldn’t be able to see her. By that, she had meant to go into one of the restaurants and buy herself something to distract herself with, seeing as she didn’t particularly experience hunger in the same way as they did. She hadn’t meant to sit in the open directly behind Sooyoung. Sure, Sooyoung couldn’t see her, but that didn’t mean that the older girl hadn’t brought back-up like she had and couldn’t see Yerim pointing her phone screen at the correct angle so that light would catch in Heejin’s eye.

Yerim motioned something out in front of her, casually masking it with her absent-mindedly fixing her sweater. Heejin frowned in confusion, shaking her head as subtly as she could. The girl mouthed something at her and repeated the motion.

“Okay, I’m gonna order now.” Sooyoung lifted her head from the leaflet.

Heejin returned her gaze to where Sooyoung was, managing to nod in quiet agreement. “Sounds good,” she choked out, desperately hoping that the girl hadn’t caught any of her suspicious behavior.

Lifting her hand in the direction of the small restaurant, Sooyoung loudly called out for the attention of the only waiter that seemed to be working at that moment. She sent a cheeky glance in Heejin’s direction, a small smirk on her face. “Don’t worry about your order, I have a feeling I know the perfect dish for you.”

Unease made Heejin’s eyes sweep away from the almost friendly smirk even as she forcibly laughed. This wasn’t the kind of interaction she had been preparing herself for the past several days. She had been expecting something a lot more hostile from Sooyoung, that same passive aggressiveness that she always delivered without fail. Hyunjin had even sat her down and thrown some insults in her face ‘for preparation’ (Heejin was well aware that her girlfriend was just an asshole with an urge to tease but she let it slide). Her mentality the entire time before this meeting had been one of defensiveness, already planned out the entire conversation in her head.

Evidently, things were not going her way.

There was a part of Heejin that was a little curious of Sooyoung’s behavior.

The older girl was undeniably charismatic, with her aloof posture and slight playfulness as she quipped harmless insults every now and then. She could see why she had such a large group of friends when her personality enticed the people around her to keep the conversation rolling even if it was at their expense. If anything, it reminded her a little of Hyunjin when they were together. Though Sooyoung was a little brasher, a little meaner, and just that little bit more ruthless with her choice of words.

Momentarily, Heejin wondered what it would have been like to grow up with Sooyoung.

“So, why’d you call me here?” Sooyoung turned back around to face her as the waiter walked away with their order in his notepad.

Heejin was snapped back into reality.

Right, she was currently talking to the girl who had been trying her best to make her homeless. The girl who had assaulted her phone with a multitude of sickening text messages. Sooyoung had grinned in her face after that one friend had almost slapped her deaf.

She wondered if this was what Sooyoung was trying to do. Lower her defences so that she wouldn’t put up much of a struggle when she wanted to get her way.

“What do you and your father want from me?” Heejin glowered across the table, hand picking up one of the chopsticks that the waiter had brought with him. She slid the stainless steel between the pads of her forefinger and thumb, heartbeat beginning to lull at the cool texture of the metal. Even if it had been a curse, Heejin had trained herself to feel safe whenever she held the silver dagger her mother had gifted her. Now, when her hands toiled and played with long metal objects, she would instantly feel just that more sure of herself.

It was something akin to watching a slow-motion clip of light fading from a background to leave the ghastly, dark expression on Sooyoung’s face. “Right to the point, aren’t we, Heejinnie.”

She barely contained the twitch from her features at the nickname.

“Well, I guess that is what I have been wanting to talk to you about all this time,” Sooyoung fixed her position once more, smoothing her hands over her coat as if to make sure it was still sitting there in place. “I should just be glad that you decided to stop being such a stubborn bitch over it and actually had the stomach to meet me.”

Heejin clenched her fist around the chopstick, stopping the distracted spinning she had been doing between her fingers. “There’s no need to be rude, Sooyoung-ssi. We’re only talking.”

Palpable suspense stilled the air between them. With her dark eyes, Sooyoung slowly dragged her gaze over Heejin’s expression, examining whatever emotions managed to show through. She was surprisingly effective in her analysis in the past, always knowing just when to say whatever new piece of knowledge she had gained so that it would push Heejin closer to losing her last strands of patience. Heejin just hoped that now Yerim was watching them from afar and listening to their conversation, she remembered to keep in touch with her self-control.

“That we are…” Sooyoung’s mouth twisted, the corner of her mouth lifting as her nostrils flared in what appeared to be aggravation. Leaning back, the metal creaked under Sooyoung’s weight as she continued to scan Heejin’s demeanor from a fair distance now, as if attempting to consider her whole profile after failing to get anything from her indifferent face. “Would you like me to tell you why my father is being such an asshole?”

At that, Heejin’s eyebrows couldn’t help but shoot up in surprise.

From the way that Sooyoung seemed to be as relentless as her father was in his obsession with Heejin and her inheritance, Heejin had assumed that Sooyoung was a daddy’s girl. She did anything her father told her to do and went the extra mile just to please him. Perhaps her biggest dream was to one day become like her father and do him proud. It would explain the horrible attitude and sly methods in getting exactly what she wanted from Heejin.

It seemed as if Heejin was a bad judge of character, however, because as Sooyoung spoke, she seemed to hold a slight loathing close to her chest.

“My father was the son of the man who mostly ran the Department of Defense in the government.”

Well, that was something to start with. Heejin blinked in surprise.

She had been brushing up on her knowledge on politics and had taken a particular interest in the Department of Defense. Her father had it written down in his books that were delivered to her after his funeral service, with a letter explaining the reason why he had even written it in the first place. (It seemed like he had been anticipating an early death.) Heejin knew that in their government, the Department of Defense were the ones that dealt with all sanguisuge relations and would be the ones to sway the rest of the government’s decisions in the future. She’d memorized the names of all the current ministers in that department while trying to find an angle to convince them to broach a deal with Vivi’s group of sanguisuges.

“When my father was young – probably sixteen, I don’t really remember the details-“

Movement in Heejin’s peripherals had her glancing towards Yerim, who was repeating the motion from earlier and mouthing the same words again.

“He met our mother.” Sooyoung deadpanned, completely detached from what she was saying. Even at the mention of their shared heritage she was entirely unaffected. “They were high school friends all throughout their late adolescent years and even until they went to the same uni together. Obviously, they studied different things – Mom studied some kind of biology and Dad studied law. But it’s not like he actually took it seriously. He’s always been a little too reckless with his priorities and does whatever the fuck he wants with his time, so I guess that’s the way it was at school too. Maybe worse, now that I think about it.”

Hints of irritation began to leak through but Heejin remained mum, afraid to break Sooyoung away from her tandem of thought.

“He was the son of an important politician, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have any confidence to spare. I hate it every time he tells me because I _don’t_ need to be reminded how many partners, but let’s just say that whatever stereotypes there are about rich people’s children couldn’t be truer.” Sooyoung had most likely forgotten that one of the rich kid’s she was speaking about was sitting right across from her, but it wasn’t like Heejin could be offended by that. Sometimes she herself wanted to forget all about her parent’s influences and inheritance. “But the way he spoke about Mom- I hate to say it but I think Dad was like, in love with her. Or at least had a crush on her since high school.”

The way she said it made it sound like it was the most disgusting thing. Heejin couldn’t help but sympathize, trying to picture her prim and proper mother be fawned over the typical college boy who just wanted to get in her pants. That was her _mother_.

“Anyway, long story short, there was a party, booze and a conveniently empty room and ta-da,” with a faux smile of elation, Sooyoung mockingly made jazz hands as if she were presenting herself at a kid’s talent show. “I- the greatest thing to walk this earth- was conceived.” Her arms came down to clatter onto the table between them, shaking the stray cutlery in its place and almost knocking over the other menus and flyers sitting neatly on the end. “Eight months later, I was born slightly premature and looking like a gray little troll, quote by my doting father. But I highly doubt that’s why Mom decided to leave without even looking me or Dad in the face.”

Something in Heejin shifted. The sarcasm almost reeked from Sooyoung’s voice, but the stale tone that she delivered her words with did nothing to take away from the message behind it.

Taking notice to her change in expression, walls almost literally shot up around Sooyoung’s face. “Spare me the pity, Your Highness,” the horrid smirk had returned to her lips, and Heejin regained her senses. “Luckily for me, I only found out that the mother who I thought divorced my dad when I was fifteen wasn’t actually my biological mother like, six months ago? Maybe even a year. Imagine being me, twenty-two and realizing that I have an entire other mother who left my father disowned and bankrupt when she left her daughter with him.”

Maybe Heejin would have felt worse for Sooyoung’s situation if it weren’t for Yerim’s hasty movements in the background.

Reluctantly, her heartstrings were pulling and tugging from listening to Sooyoung’s retelling of her life. There was sympathy riddling her completely still, gluing her tongue to the roof of her mouth so she couldn’t interrupt and ask Sooyoung what the whole point of her sob-story was. A small, quixotic part of her couldn’t help but wonder if the only reason why Sooyoung was the way she was because of her past.

But Yerim was making the strange gesture again, this time wearing a prominent frown on her face as she pretended to scroll through her phone.

Heejin didn’t know what it meant, but it didn’t sit well with her.

“What bankruptcy?” Concentrating on the last of Sooyoung’s sentence, Heejin halted her fingers from continuing to spin the chopstick. Her mother had never been a saint, but for her to be capable of something like that…

Following her train of thought, Sooyoung grinned like Christmas had come early. Her gums were displayed for Heejin to see, her cheeks pushing up into her eyes. It could have been a beautiful smile if it weren’t for the malice that dripped from her tongue when she opened her mouth. “Looks like Mom has been both a cheating liar and a cunning bitch.”

Scoffing under her breath, Heejin leaned away from Sooyoung’s eager body that had pressed into the table. “Spit it out already.”

“Are you sure you want to hear how ‘mommy dearest’ isn’t who you really think she is?” There was that glint in Sooyoung’s eye that told her she had the upper hand. That if she wanted to, she could ruin Heejin’s entire life with a couple of words.

Except this was something that barely brushed by Heejin’s conscience.

Unknown to Sooyoung, she had already had her revelation of who her mother truly was several months ago when she had sent her to be vampire bait for her best friend. Heejin had lived under the same roof as that woman her entire life. Receiving affection from her was like tasting rain in the desert. Sooyoung didn’t know how her mother had pushed her to sacrifice her own life for the sake of some sick project to create murderous creatures. She didn’t know that Heejin had pored over the books and footage of her parents carrying out experiments on live, animated sanguisuges.

Probably didn’t know that Heejin was but another experiment of theirs.

Huffing a small laugh through her nose, Heejin placed the chopstick flat on the surface of the table. With a confident glare, she taunted back, “Go ahead. I’m sure she’d love to tell her grandchildren this story somewhere along the future, too.”

Their conversation was momentarily cut brief by the arrival of the same waiter. He placed down a series of side dishes in front of them, followed by what looked to be a meat-based dish right in front of Heejin. It wasn’t something she had ever tried before, but the smell wafting up into her nose was so salivating that her stomach couldn’t help but grumble in content.

“Dig in, then,” Sooyoung gestured, the harsh texture to her expression softening. “There’s nothing wrong with multitasking.”

Warily, Heejin did as asked. Closing her eyes was a natural reaction that she couldn’t prevent when the food in her mouth was that good.

Sooyoung snorted in amusement.

“Well, I guess I should start by tell you how Mom’s family wasn’t always upper class.” Sooyoung bowed her head in appreciation when a different dish was placed in front of her, her smile almost soft as she thanked the waiter. “I don’t know the details, because our mother never told Dad what exactly the money was for, but during the time she was pregnant with me she asked him to start a bank’s saving account for the both of them. Apparently, it was so that they could start a family together and settle down after uni, but that was not the case. Dad thinks that it was because her parents were in debt to some shady people.

“My dad tends to get a little carried away when he gets passionate over something.” Heejin watched as Sooyoung poured what seemed like too much sauce over her noodles, and she thought that maybe that was something that the two shared in common. “So obviously he went behind his father’s back and took too much money from family bank account and put it right into the shared account with our mother. He did this until Mom gave birth to me and then decided to run away with the money, leaving my dad to have to explain to his father why exactly his credit card would get declined every time he tried to pay for something.”

There was something in the dish that was making her tongue tickle. Heejin picked up a piece of meat carefully with the chopsticks, frowning carefully at the strange flavor.

“Dad got disowned, became a single father and couldn’t even sue our mother because she had taken all of the family money and hired incredibly good lawyers. She even got a restraining order – it was pretty effective.” Sooyoung bluntly explained, talking around the food in her mouth. She waved her own chopsticks in the air like she wasn’t saying anything important.

Heejin felt her breathing quicken. She anxiously tried calming herself down by running the pad of her thumb along the length of the metallic chopstick but only managed to dull her heartbeat slightly. Maybe it was something in the dish.

“How’s the food by the way?” Sooyoung asked then, an expectant raise to her eyebrows as she continued to eat her own dish. “I picked it out especially for you.”

Frowning deeply, Heejin reached out for the cup of water on the table. “It’s… is it supposed to be… spicy?”

Sooyoung just silently stared. She watched as Heejin downed the entire cup of water, trying to forcibly get the weird feeling off her tongue. “It used to be one of my favorites when I was little.” She said, the pace of her own eating slowing down. “I haven’t had it since I was a kid, though.”

Behind Sooyoung, Yerim was intently staring at them, making the hand signal again. Heejin was too busy trying to get her breathing in check to notice what she was mouthing.

“I’m surprised that you’re not aware of this dish,” Sooyoung genuinely said, leaning forward to stare Heejin in the face. “Though I’m sure Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t want to worry their little girl, right?”

Covering her mouth, Heejin began coughing. “I don’t know… what you’re talking about.”

Smiling slightly, Sooyoung’s eyes darkened considerably. “Imagine my surprise when I look through my little sister’s medical files,” her voice was low, barely registering in Heejin’s ears over her own coughing and wheezing, “and I find out that we share the same allergy.”

Her stomach dropped.

Heejin pushed herself back from the table and away from the dish, staring with wide eyes at Sooyoung’s calm demeanor.

“There aren’t many dishes that integrate crushed up linseeds into their sauces, but with all the new competition around, the small family business had to keep up somehow and decided to add a little twist to their traditional meat dish.” There was a smile missing from Sooyoung’s expression as she talked. She looked too concerned over Heejin’s incessant coughing, like she actually cared for her well-being. “The old man updated me on the slight changes to the ingredient because he was worried that I would accidentally order one for myself. Isn’t he so kind?”

So Sooyoung had tried to poison her?

Heejin hadn’t even been aware that she was allergic to something – it wasn’t anything her parents had ever mentioned before.

Briefly, she remembered her mother telling her to stay away from any kind of nuts or seeds because they would be bad for her skin, but it wasn’t anything explicitly informing her of her alleged allergy. She must have assumed that Heejin would be that good, obedient daughter as always and listen to what her mother told her to do.

In the corner of her peripherals, she saw Yerim’s wild movements. She hoped that she wasn’t going to do something stupid.

A hand warmed the place between her shoulder blades.

“My dad isn’t a bad person, Heejinnie,” the moisture that formed on the shell of her ear made her jerk away, glaring through teary eyes at Sooyoung’s mock concerned face. “He just wants what’s rightfully his back where it belongs.”

Heejin felt her vision darkening, having the mind to push herself away from the psychopath who pretended to worry over her condition.

She should have expected something like this to happen. How hadn’t she seen something like this coming? She shouldn’t have let her guard down so easily around someone like Sooyoung. Expecting more from her had been her biggest mistake.

Somewhere in the background she could hear Sooyoung’s cries for help, desperately trying to get someone’s attention and telling them that her little sister was having an allergic reaction. As if she hadn’t been the one to illegally search for her medical files and use them against her, and for what? So that she could kill Heejin and get the inheritance problem over and done with?

“Heejin!”

The familiar voice snapped her out of her stupor, her head jolting up to search for its source.

Pushing through cramped rows and lines of tables and chairs was Jeno. In his hand he tightly clasped onto what Heejin hoped was an EpiPen, his other swatting away the obstacles in his path as he charged towards them. His arrival was nothing but commendable, garnering the attention of pedestrians who had gathered in an attempt to help Heejin out. As if parting a sea, the people made way for his ruffled appearance and repeated swearing under his breath, reaching his hand out to steady Heejin’s outstretched arm.

“Sit down, sit down.” Jeno pushed aside the woman who had been worriedly tapping on Heejin’s back to place Heejin down on the nearest empty chair, carrying out the steps necessary to prepare the EpiPen. With what seemed like a practiced motion, he steadied Heejin’s shaky arm with one of his large hands and proceeded to stab the needle into the middle of Heejin’s thigh, holding on for several seconds to make sure that it worked.

Yelping at the abrupt pain that sweltered from her left thigh, Heejin accidentally gripped onto Jeno’s shoulder with her nails. An almost blinding wave of pain swept over her as she crippled over, desperately pushing away at Jeno’s hands when he began to retract the medical device.

Fortunately, Heejin felt herself begin to calm down a little, leaning to rest back against the metal chair. Her hands, however, carefully massaged at where Jeno had injected the EpiPen. She winced when she remembered the scar several inches away from where he had pushed down on. Even if several months had passed since the stab wound had closed, there would be times where Heejin could still feel her left leg threatening to give out beneath her at the reminder of her injury. She tried her best to forget that it was even there by covering up her legs as much as she could, but the abrupt pressure that had been applied to it made her grimace in pain.

“Thank god I made it on time,” Jeno pushed himself up from his crouching position, having already spoken to the crowd that had formed around them and said that he could handle things from there. He sat himself in the chair beside her, scraping it along the floor so he could face her better. “Choi Yerim literally grabbed this EpiPen from this random girl’s hand and shoved it towards me – I barely even realized what was happening.”

Heejin forced out a laugh, blinking away the tears that had formed in her eyes.

A wave of fatigue washed over her.

“Thank you, I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t showed up.” Now that the situation had cleared up a little, adrenaline still forcing itself in her body and making her limbs tremble, Heejin could feel fear building up inside of her.

She would have suffocated.

“What did you even have an allergic reaction to? I thought you weren’t allergic to anything?” Jeno placed the EpiPen on the table nearest to him before leaning in closer.

Heejin grimaced, her eyes automatically looking around. “I didn’t know…”

But Sooyoung did.

Somehow, she had known.

Her eyes scanned the food court, several strangers refusing to give up their lingering stares in favor for observing the two of them interact. Others were still going about their daily routines, lining up outside restaurants or desert places, talking amongst themselves animatedly while they did so. Yerim’s familiar frame was desperately thanking a group of tall girls – probably the fortunate people she had gotten the EpiPen from in the first place. The only remnants left behind in a particular girl’s wake was the half-finished noodles.

A shiver slid itself down Heejin’s spine.

Sooyoung was out for blood.

-

Pride had always been the greatest downfall of man.

Humans were tired of funding a never-ending debt that was both expensive and nonsensical to even consider. They expressed their exasperation towards the large majority of sanguisuges who hadn’t contributed to the society that they both happened to share and live in, deciding to trap their funding into their savings and subsequently crippling the economy. Money wasn’t flowing down to the people, yet it was continuously being pumped right back into the sanguisuges’ bank accounts. Moreover, the ever-present looming threat presented by creatures who could disguise themselves as one of their own yet murder an entire apartment complex within minutes with their bare hands meant that their faith in the species as a whole was essentially non-existent.

Sanguisuges were furious by the massacre of their people at the syndicate temple, from an unprovoked attack that stemmed from falsified information created by the humans themselves. Not just that, but humans had been taking some of their own and using them as lab rats for sickening trials and experiments to create killing machines that would leave the sanguisuge mark on innocent human bodies. They argued that none of this would have happened if human’s hadn’t jumped the gun and assumed that the syndicate were planning an attack on the human population, several insults being snidely weaved into the debate here and there.

Overall, the only thing that the meeting had managed to conclude was that humans wanted the sanguisuges gone from their land, and the sanguisuges just wanted justice and more power in their hands.

Hyunjin had been watching the affair quietly from the side of the room, where two human guards had been allotted to stand on either side of her with their guns pressing into her arms.

She would have been more reactive at the order to shoot if she moved if it weren’t for her already deep understanding on human’s irrational actions whenever they were governed by fear. So she had just accepted the conditions soundly and had barely moved a muscle. (Other than to scratch her cheek, and the humans had almost tackled her to the ground because of it.)

The futile cycle in conversation only came to an end when one of the human politicians decided to cut the rant of their Minister of Defense.

“We will not progress or get anything done if we continue going around in circles.” He calmly looked between both sides, who had allowed themselves to get carried by the heat of the debate to points where cheeks were flushed, and hearts were racing. “I request that we end conversation here and pick up at some other point, where we are _all_ significantly calmer.”

To say that Hyunjin had been surprised that someone was in the right state of mind to call this ridicule off would be an understatement. She was glad to finally be able to move without the feeling of guns pressed against her skin, and to finally breathe an air that wasn’t fraught with years of resentment and pent-up hatred. Her stomach was beginning to tighten in that familiar ache, tipping her off that it was her feeding time which meant that they had managed to talk their way through lunch. Not than anyone in the room had managed to realize when they were too busy clambering over one another to get their points across.

She was even more surprised when the same man managed to fall into step with her, addressing her by her name and everything.

“Kim Hyunjin,” he fell into step with her, a neutral smile on his face as she looked up at him in surprise. “I have to say, I had to double-check a couple of times to see if I had the right ‘Hyunjin’ when I heard that you would be attending. My son mentioned your name once or twice when he talked about his peers at school.”

Hyunjin didn’t bother hiding her frown, tension pulling her muscles taut. “Sorry, but who is your son?”

The man looked fleetingly startled, eyes widening in a way that was incapable of hiding his true emotions. (If he was that easy to read, then the man may have to reconsider his career choices.) “Sorry, this must seem so abrupt for you.” He laughed, easing some of Hyunjin’s nerves at the cordial atmosphere that encased this man. “My name is Lee Dongwoo. I think you and my son graduated from the same year – he said he was in your class – does Lee Jeno ring a bell?”

Her epiphany came short and hastily nostalgic. Hyunjin remembered Jeno from Heejin’s large friendship group. She had briefly spoken to him here or there in answer to his questions, varying between whether they had homework due that afternoon and if he could copy hers, to what she thought about the latest basketball game in a last-ditch attempt at conversation while Heejin was preoccupied with others’ attention. She also remembered how he had held a particular fondness for Heejin, and how eager he had been to be sat beside her when Hyunjin had disappeared for that one month.

But Heejin was her girlfriend now. Next time she saw him, she may just make that clear to him.

“Yeah, we shared most of our classes.” Hyunjin nodded, looking carefully at the man that proclaimed himself as Jeno’s father. She could somewhat see the resemblance: the defined jaw, the softness to the eyes, that nonchalant aura as if everything in the world was at peace.

“Yes, he mentioned you helping him out with his studies as one of the best students, which only means I have you to thank for salvaging his education.” The man chortled in amusement, politely holding the door open for her to pass through back into the stairway that would lead to the lobby hall. “Me and my wife were petrified the day of graduation, thinking that his name wouldn’t get called out. Though now he’s doing well, studying engineering at university.”

Hyunjin nodded, admittedly slightly disinterested with the choice of topic.

She wondered if there was a particular reason as to why Dongwoo had broached conversation to begin with – if he had any ulterior motives with the pleasantries and niceties. If there was anything that she had learnt throughout her life, it was that people usually didn’t reach out first unless they wanted something from her.

“If you don’t mind me asking… how long have you been a sanguisuge for?” Dongwoo didn’t seem to lack any confidence with the straightforward question, his curiosity evidently too much to withhold. “It’s not anything personal, it’s simply the idea of sanguisuges being around my son… you know how that must be for a parent.”

Ah, so this was his concern.

Feeling her defences shackle up and her senses attune themselves to her surroundings, Hyunjin tried to stop herself from letting her mind wander to how her parents would have felt if they had found out their only child was a blood-sucking monster.

Bitterness restrained by a kind upturn of the mouth, Hyunjin allowed him to step down onto the escalator first. “Don’t worry, Mr. Lee, I was only turned several months ago.”

Watching the relief form on his face made her stomach swoop with nausea. It wasn’t something that Hyunjin enjoyed having to relive, no matter how far her and Jinsoul’s friendship had come from what it used to be. Despite the care that her creator had fondly treated her with, and the endless understanding of the situation she was in, Hyunjin had still died that night. Had fallen from the third story floor, so now she couldn’t stand the thought of being around heights.

Her hand gripped tighter onto the rubber handle of the escalator.

“My condolences, then, Ms. Kim.” Dongwoo’s voice rung out with pity and an attempt at sympathy, though it only made Hyunjin more restless than she already was. “I have to say, however, that it is surprising to find you among the leading sanguisuges.”

Grateful for having reached the ground floor, Hyunjin rushed to step off the escalator. She reached into her pocket to wrap her hand around her phone, something to steady herself better with. After all, Heejin was just a call away if she ever felt particularly uncomfortable with anything that traversed in her day. Hiding her discomfort, Hyunjin turned to look at the man. “How so?”

“It’s just that,” Dongwoo hesitated. For a moment his heart skipped irregularly, alerting Hyunjin’s finely tuned ears. “I was actually going to be meeting another one of Jeno’s old classmates later today to discuss the topic of… supporting the peace treaty between sanguisuges and humans.” There was something hanging off the end of his words, as if he were carefully trying to provide Hyunjin with the hints necessary for her to bite and ask him who it was. Though judging from the several calls and messages her girlfriend had been making as of late, she had a kindling idea of who he was referring to.

“Well I’m glad that you are in favor of the peace treaty.” Hyunjin said, earnestly searching his expression for something else. “I’ll gladly tell my superiors that not all hope is lost.”

A pleasant smile bloomed on his face, his eyes amusedly observing her. “It would be a pleasure to be able to work together towards a common goal like this in the near future, Kim Hyunjin.” He extended out a hand for her to shake, though Hyunjin took a second to scan his appearance for anything he could possibly have under his sleeve. When she sensed nothing, she carefully slid her hand into his. “I must say that I have had a drastic change of heart as of late, so my perception on this matter is rather fresh, but I am eager to put it all to rest.”

His words were said brightly, optimism pushing his point forward in his open expression. As if he trusted Hyunjin to be open with his emotions.

There was a slight change in the scent of the air then, that had her chest beginning to swelter.

She scanned Dongwoo’s appearance from head-to-toe. He had been wearing some cologne and after-shave that easily covered-up the innate sweetness of human blood, though Hyunjin had been expecting all of the humans in the meeting to have made efforts to mask their natural scents. The current sting to her nostrils that triggered displeasure in her brain wasn’t associated to the heavily masculine odor, so Hyunjin let her eyes dance away from the man’s questioning frame in front of her to chase after whatever it was that was making her react so strongly.

An abrupt surge in anger had her eyes threatening to turn bright yellow in the middle of the hall. Her fingers tightened into fists.

Hyunjin wasn’t intimate with this smell, but it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to the point where she had never noticed it before. But her memory was hazy as to where it had been made apparent to her before, her mind recklessly searching through the library of memories in her head for a viable answer. It was beginning to make her feel irrationally irritated.

Then, in the moment that Hyunjin was going to turn back to Dongwoo and apologize for her strange behavior, her eyes snagged on the familiar frame.

She was taken back to cold, dark living rooms and neon blue flooding out from fish tanks. To the feeling of her creator pressing protectively against her body, placing herself between the group of blood-thirsty sanguisuges that had mobbed together and her. She had felt the sickening abhorrence then. Simply just by looking at the way he breathed made her fingers twitch in apprehension for murder, her heart lurching with distaste as she unsteadily heaved out a barely controlled breath. The red in his eyes was still ingrained into her head even today. The smugness as Jinsoul was tortured for the pleasure of entertainment deprived sanguisuges to see.

Hyunjin hadn’t expected Chiwon to still be alive.

She had taken one look at his thin, wiry, twelve-year-old frame and had cast him to the hellhounds.

Yet there he was, standing in pretend innocence in clothes that made him look the age of his appearance. The horrible stench was coming from him, and it was edging Hyunjin closer to losing control and ripping his face off with her nails.

As if knowing that he was being watched, Chiwon turned his head precisely in her direction.

A morbid grin formed on his thin lips, whites of his teeth showing. And in a prevocational tease, his bore his fangs when he knew that Hyunjin wasn’t going to remove her loathing charged glare.

Seoham approached him then, shoulders tucked in and head slightly bowed. “I’ll do it.” His voice was meek, barely audible with all the side-conversations and sounds of the streets outside blocking Hyunjin’s hearing. But she could hear the distinguish tremor that had so confidently tried to outcast her earlier. How it surrendered to the small boy’s wrath in front of him so easily.

Making sure that Hyunjin was listening intently, Chiwon clapped a hand onto Seoham’s bicep. “It’s good to finally have you.” His fingers seemed to dig into the flesh beneath his touch. “The others have been waiting.”

Hyunjin watched as they both departed, Chiwon’s hand not leaving the surface of Seoham’s body.

Something was certainly stirring.

-

Somewhere across the city, a panicked yelp broke the silence of barren alleys. The sun refused to fall onto the constricted space between apartment buildings, the only semblance of light that graced the wet pavements being the pitiful light at the end of every alley. Machines weren’t uncommon to these deindustrialized parts of the city, but residents knew that the last occasion they had ever heard one running was twenty years ago when the area was still blooming with ambitious prospects.

Nothing could explain the whirring clicks that chased after the stumbling girl. The snapping of jaws and unrestrained growls from a salivating throat.

_“Run faster.”_

“I can’t,” the girl cried, the ache in her thighs winning the battle against the voices in her head.

_“Yes you can.”_

Frustrated, the girl grunted and continued her escape without destination. She didn’t know where her sore feet were taking her, or if the slapping of the sole of shoes against the merciless concrete floors would ever cease. Had it not been for her flawed biological make up, she would have collapsed in the middle of the vacant streets for the monster to get her. Maybe it was another figment of her imagination. Another one of her brain’s tricks to support her psychotic mind in the loneliness that had plagued her as of late.

It could be her friend. Just like the voices in her head.

Slowing her numb racing, the girl let her tears fall freely from the ends of her eyelashes. Her mascara had most likely ruined the surface of her cheeks by now.

_“Come on, darling, keep running.”_

“No,” the girl sobbed from exhaustion, sweat clinging her hair to the front of her face and her shirt plastered onto her perspiring skin, “I don’t want to.”

Something slapped itself onto the ground behind her, the clicking and whirring now louder than before.

_“Then rest, darling.”_

The girl felt her vision beginning to fade. Relief relaxed her body. She would finally be allowed a break. To rest until the loneliness that had been leeching off her energy grew tired too, and then the whole world would fall asleep.

_“I will take care of the rest.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little more plot-based from now on
> 
> let me know if the length is too long and I should split it into two next time:)


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to bump up the rating of this fic bc of this chapter ><
> 
> this chapter would be rated [M] because if you're a minor, i advise you to skip italics  
> also rated [TW] because of very vague, brief mentions of sexual abuse (i don't wanna risk anyone's health over this, please stay safe while reading this)

xxxxxxxxxx

There were a lot of things that terrified Jinsoul:

Tight, enclosed spaces restricting any sign of life bar the movements of her body and the sounds of her own, encased breathing.

Complete and utter darkness at times where her eyes would be wide open, entirely too desperate for a drop of light to grace her eyes, hands scavenging for this visual revelation as if it were tactile – something that she could just reach out and touch.

The feeling of falling – rather than the visual stimulus of the height itself, the sensation of the swooping of the stomach as if being wrenched from her gut by the hands of God Himself, her limbs lacking of any contact that would provide assurance that she did, in fact, exist.

If she were to encompass all of her fears into one, then Jinsoul would have to settle on: a lack of control.

Her hands would not lay peacefully at her sides even if she so desperately wanted to convey a picture of aloofness and apathy. Instead they would wind and bind themselves in the rough fabric of the black fabric stroking the lengths other bare legs, wringing out the material as if it were its weight that made her steps heavy and not the creeping sensation of uncertainty and fear just moments away from paralyzing her mid-step. She was not sure if the image she was exuding was one of tranquillity, whatever tricks that she had practiced so fervently back in her living time on Earth now completely futile when she repeated the steps in her mind. It was a necessity to appear calm, in all situations. No one could touch her if she didn’t care. But on this hellish plane her abilities were restricted to praying and praying that her nerves would calm down. Not anything like how she used to be able to snap her mind closed on any of her troubles and switch off the hormones that made her react this way.

It seemed as if the lack of control extended beyond her own body, what with the leather strings reverently brushing along the bare expanse of her chest.

It had been centuries since Jinsoul had allowed herself to wear something around her neck.

Her eyes couldn’t help but stray to the cause of this bothersome sensation, weightlessly parting fields of grass as if her presence commandeered so. The ground underfoot seemed to worship her every step, elevating and sinking to accommodate like devoted servants of their queen, and Jinsoul briefly wondered if it was because Jungeun was born on these soulless grounds or if it was because the ground loved Jungeun as if she were made from the same essence. As if she were one of their own.

 _Which she was_ , Jinsoul reminded herself, _one of their own._

Whatever Jinsoul felt toiling within her body, she couldn’t ever begin to put it into words.

Jinsoul’s hatred for the woman was long-lasting. Something that (when Jinsoul pushed aside the stubborn, prideful part of herself for a moment and really thought about it) she had used as a crutch for support the majority of her life; a willing surface where she could lay all of her burdens on and justify it with the thought that it was deserved.

It wasn’t like Jinsoul hadn’t ever pondered over this hatred, what with occasions like the immense amount of time the syndicate had given her underground, to stew away with her own thoughts and monsters until insanity eventually took her. There were multiple instances during those long, long years where Jinsoul looked back on her experiences and thought that the punishment that she bestowed on Jungeun (which _was_ a punishment (Jinsoul had realized the moment the woman fell at her feet in an act of complete subservience for the very first time, begging for her forgiveness and to be taken back as they once were)) was not proportionate to the sin that she had committed.

A sin that continued to haunt and wrench at her insides to this day, but one that Jinsoul had come to terms with in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.

There had been many times in her life where she came to this same realization.

Jungeun had repented a million times over what she had done – had given countless speeches of how sorry she was; had resorted to the old proverb ‘actions speak louder than words’ when that hadn’t worked; had accepted all of Jinsoul’s anger and attempts at punishment just enough so that Jinsoul wouldn’t inevitably destroy them both in her plight.

For a demon, Jungeun was incredibly understanding, patient, empathetic-

Jinsoul startled when Jungeun turned – the shift of her steps greeted by singing leaves beneath her feet – and met her eyes in a curious yet silent question. An ‘are you okay’ that didn’t need to be spoken between them. Because words never came easy to the two of them.

And it wasn’t the first time, but Jinsoul became startingly aware that Jungeun was also incredibly loving.

Unafraid to clasp onto love and use it as her armour.

A love that Jinsoul had never quite known how to handle, or what to do with.

Because despite her largest, and deepest fear being her lack of control, Jungeun had presented her with something that riveted her to her very core.

Something where powerlessness and subordination couldn’t reach to shift her being in the way that this terror could.

Jungeun had given her complete, unrestricted, and boundless control by choosing to love her the way that she did.

And despite Jinsoul’s relentless and endless chase for governance over even the smallest aspects of her life (I.e. the purging of the Olde, creating the syndicate, her inability to pull away from the politics of the world – even her distaste for Haseul’s scientific endeavours) she didn’t know what to do with the very thing that she had been striving for her whole life – the reason for her existence – when it was surrendered onto her lap without even so much as a struggle.

So Jinsoul feared Jungeun. Not because she gave her a lack of control, but because there was an excess amount of it.

And that chilled Jinsoul.

It froze her to her very soul.

-

_Jinsoul had never kissed before._

_Per her parent’s wishes, she’d kept herself celibate to the point where she had never even looked in the direction of the young men in their village, nor the guards of the royals who accompanied officials to collect the taxes every two months (like the other women in the village liked to do). Her only knowledge of physical affection beyond the warm hugs and pestering kisses that she gave her siblings was stories her friends provided her, courtesy of their own rebellious streaks with the baker boy or the rich men’s sons. Information on such things was scarce, though not one that interested her much in the first place when she had several little rascals to take care of._

_So naturally Jinsoul had no idea how to navigate a kiss._

_Especially not with whatever information her friends had told given her._

_“You’re doing it completely wrong,” was what the demon sat beside her confirmed. Frustration tightened her eyebrows together as she pulled back. Impatience coloured her tone. “How are you doing it so wrong? You’re ruining kissing for me and I didn’t even think that was possible.”_

_The ache in her chest had been slow to dull, but eventually Jinsoul learned to numb all her senses and emotions in favour of not feeling anything at all._

_With a few sharp words, however, the feeling was quick to resurface._

_“Then stop trying to k- kiss me all the time.” Jinsoul growled in frustration, digging her fingernails into the back of her hands where she had tightly clasped them together in her lap. She could barely even push the word out yet here was this lewd creature persistently on her back trying to get her to commit the act._

_Surprisingly, the demon hadn’t forced her lips onto hers in her apparent desperation to get what she desired. That didn’t mean that she hadn’t made her intentions to do so clear with her snide comments and sly manipulation attempts. Touches to the waist or thigh didn’t go amiss, along with the cheek kisses that were far too near to her mouth to be called cheek kisses. However, her trying attempts didn’t go any farther than inappropriate touches on her body and the use of futile seduction tactics._

_Jinsoul hadn’t wanted to even think about partaking in a romantic act like kissing with a creature sent from Hell (who carried out whatever the Monster’s biddings were without even so much the bat of an eye). The reminder of the demon’s nature chased her everywhere in small details: how she often wandered their quarters without any clothing to cover her nude body, or the leather collar that gripped possessively around Jinsoul’s neck, or how she would often disappear on some particularly frustrating nights and come back with love marks over her skin and the scent of the thing that Jinsoul despised the most reeking from her in waves._

_But she supposed that after days of the strange creature ignorantly trying to win her affections (if that’s what all the poor slaves that she had snuck out of the Monster’s captivity and handed to her as offerings were (“You must be hungry – I brought you the nicest smelling one just for you.”)) eventually it would make sense that Jinsoul give into the begging._

_Even if Kim Lip refused to admit that she had been on her knees for something as prudent as a kiss._

_And if Jinsoul always ended up setting the confused, sobbing slaves free from their window instead of feeding from them as she was expected._

_Rather than refuting her statement with another one of her insults, Kim Lip simply furrowed her brow and stared at her._

_The weight of her gaze would have felt uncomfortable if it weren’t for the days of practice Jinsoul had had to withstand its heat. She hadn’t been used to being held at the centre of attention for a longer than just a glance, so at first it had taken everything in Jinsoul not to snap out unceremoniously at the demon to tell her exactly what she thought about her intrusive gawking. (And intrusive it had been, because Jinsoul hadn’t had the chance to change out of her clothes without the feeling of eyes raking up and down the length of her body in the entire time she had been held captive.) But like all things, Jinsoul was quick to adapt by learning to ignore the source of her troubles._

_And the source of her troubles currently seemed to be increasingly frustrated with her._

_(Not that this was anything new to their dynamic, what with Jinsoul ridding the demon of any thoughts she had thinking she had a chance to slip underneath the sheets with her.)_

_“Ugh… this is so…” Kim Lip shifted her weight on the bed, the movement of the mattress swaying Jinsoul in place where she sat rigidly, scared that if she made the wrong move then the demon would take advantage of anything she unknowingly gave her. “Who doesn’t know how to kiss?” She continued to grumble as she slid closer, her movements jerky and slightly uncomfortable. Completely out of the norm of her usual fluidity and confidence._

_Jinsoul refrained from going on a rant about Kim Lip’s unnecessary (and needless) judgements. Her opinions were not valued enough to be heard. She knew that as someone who was just discarded as a toy piece to a literal creature from Hell, she was in no place to speak out her troubles or thoughts. The Monster had made it explicitly clear where she stood when she had last decided to act out against her. (Jinsoul still suffered from the nightmares that the last demonstration had given her.) Ever since then, she had kept her thoughts hidden close to her chest and bit on her tongue whenever she felt an onslaught of views rushing to surge out and bite at the nearest sentient being._

_Even if she had been very aware of her own inexperience, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t disappointed to find out she was bad at… it._

_(She couldn’t even think about the word without flushing.)_

_She wondered what would have happened if she had shared her first kiss with the blacksmith’s son instead of the demon sitting unbearably close to her on their bed. Most likely she would have botched the entire experience as she had now and been put on display for the village people to laugh at._

_In a way, she was glad that it had been a demon and not the blacksmith’s son._

_At least she didn’t care for the demon’s feelings and vice versa._

_“Okay, let’s try it again,” Kim Lip said._

_A mischievous hand slid up the length of her back, trailing blazing fingers over the soft fabric of her nightdress to wrap around the dip of her waist. Jinsoul couldn’t bring herself to even look at Kim Lip’s face, knowing that whatever she found there would just make her stomach lurch in displeasure. Yet the demon insisted on it, with a reprimanding pinch to the skin where her hand had found purchase. “This time, don’t pout your lips like that – you’re not a fish – that is not how this works.”_

_Rolling her eyes, Jinsoul tentatively lifted her chin to try and at least look at where she would be aiming._

_Her cheeks were burning awkwardly. She really didn’t know why the affronts were making her feel so mortified – surely she wasn’t expected to be good at something she had never done before? Like how one would never expect someone to be good at sewing the first time?_

_But of course, how would a demon understand her mortal struggles?_

_Trying to listen to the advice, Jinsoul focussed on relaxing her mouth._

_She let Kim Lip be the one to fall into her space again, too unsure with herself to be the one to make the first move. It was instinctive of her to pout like she had the first time when she was approached for a kiss, having spent far too many years peppering them all over her younger brothers and sisters in sweet displays of affection._

_Kim Lip stopped just shy of meeting her lips, warm breath trickling from her ajar lips to brush against her skin. With a warning glare the demon quickly snapped her eyes to Jinsoul’s, to which the latter huffed frustratedly out of her nose and clenched her eyes shut. Waiting for the worst._

_This time felt different than the last._

_She could feel the shape of Kim Lip’s lips – the grooves of her lower lip brushing against hers and the dip in her upper lip pressing firmly onto the centre of her own._

_They were soft. Like the freshly baked bread that would sink under the pressure of her teeth, or like the pillows of the large bed that would give way under the weight of her head. It didn’t feel as forceful as Jinsoul had been expecting. Or as stiff and solid, like the pecks exchanged between her father and mother._

_Also unexpectedly warm and wet, from where the demon had probably slipped her tongue out to moisten her lips._

_Maybe Jinsoul could see the appeal._

_Of course, Kim Lip had to ruin the small comfort zone she had managed to create for herself with her bitter words._

_“Can you move your lips?” She said as she moved back. “I feel like I’m kissing a corpse.”_

_Jinsoul couldn’t help the scowl that formed on her face. She glared daggers at the demon, who allowed her to lean away in a small display of permission. She was pretty sure that kissing shouldn’t be this impersonal, with her partner continuously prickling at what she was doing wrong, verbalising it in such a horrible manner that only managed to make her feel more ashamed for her life choices. Briefly, she wondered how on earth anyone put up with the demon enough for her to be this experienced when it came to kissing. Jinsoul wouldn’t have ever kissed her if she were a boy looking to court her. But maybe Jinsoul was the only one who received this kind of treatment._

_“I’ll show you,” Kim Lip offered._

_Growing impatient with her, Kim Lip tugged at her waist to pull her closer into reach again. Jinsoul fleetingly had the mind to lean away from the impending lips, but by then the demon had already pressed their mouths together once more in a searing kiss._

_Instinctively, her mouth had hardened itself into a thin line, a silent refusal of the action._

_But a soothing massage was exerted onto the side of her neck just above the pressure of the leather collar, and it had her unknowingly relaxing before she could even think to push the demon away. She allowed the soft lips to glide over hers, very gently pulling and pushing in a way that had her confused. Because she’d never had something move against her mouth other than the worm that her little brother had roguishly dangled over her while the rest of her siblings restrained her. And this wasn’t like the disgusting worm. Not anything like it._

_Kim Lip drew back slightly to allow her head to tilt, as if seeking for a better angle. She pressed a soft, quick kiss to Jinsoul’s immobile lips before whispering a warm, “copy me” across her mouth._

_Obedient as ever, Jinsoul did what was asked._

_Jinsoul inhaled sharply out of reflex. The onslaught of scents that washed over her had her mouth drying in a way it only did when she refused to drink the blood that was given to her for days. It was sweet with vanillas and honeys that had the monster inside of her yearning with want, as well as tangy with a citrus that had her nose prickling as the addictive scent tempted her to search exactly where its origins were founded._

_She felt Kim Lip move her mouth slowly, as if testing the waters. The way Jinsoul’s lips were pulled along with the movement had her absent-mindedly doing the same, cautiously repeating the motion. The fingers on her waist curled into the fabric of her nightdress._

_When Kim Lip pushed, Jinsoul tried pushing back to meet her halfway before she was coaxed to draw the movement in by the guiding hand slipping down to her hip. When Kim Lip pulled back to find a new angle, she accidentally bumped their noses in eagerness to do the same._

_A quiet huff of amusement and the smallest quirk of the lips was her reward._

_It was easy to find a groove. All Jinsoul had to do was follow Kim Lip’s lead – like ballroom dancing, where her partner took one step forward and she would take one step back. Admittedly, the more she managed to lose herself in what Kim Lip liked to call ‘kissing’, the more she found herself beginning to enjoy it. There was just something about the way that the warmth that spread from the lips on her mouth that made her skin tingle so pleasantly. It felt like her mind was suddenly clear of all of its thought and all she had to focus on was making sure she didn’t fall behind in this new and unfamiliar dance._

_Kim Lip suctioned her lower lip into her mouth, trapping it faintly between her teeth. Jinsoul subconsciously made a humming noise with the back of her throat in response._

_For some inexplicable reason, she felt a warmth make itself present in the pit of her stomach that did nothing to help the spell of dizziness that shot from her head and crawl down her spine._

_Disorientated and slightly disconcerted, Jinsoul peeked through her previously clenched eyes. She almost startled when she met the dark haze gazing right back at her through long eyelashes. Something dark sweltered in the wide-blown pupils. The mischief and mirth that proudly displayed itself was more than enough for Jinsoul to know that the demon was smirking at her._

_And when said demon suckled on her lower lip that had been trapped between her teeth, excitement bright in her eyes as she observed for a reaction, Jinsoul couldn’t do anything to stop the louder hum that crawled from her chest. The pulsing pressure was unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. The feeling of blunt teeth against her lip waking something dangerous inside of her._

_Her eyes had closed in embarrassment, suddenly all too aware of the hand that had been massaging at the base of her skull and the one on her hip that held her close._

_Jinsoul should pull away now._

_This was enough kissing for today – she had only agreed to get the demon to stop pestering her so desperately._

_She had done more than what was required of her._

_But, when Kim Lip bit and dragged at her lower lip while she pulled back, and released it with a sound that flipped a switch and made her hearing feel like she was under water, it was all Jinsoul could do to fall forward and back into the comfort the warm mouth provided._

_Kim Lip squeezed her hip, returning the fervour with one of her own._

_Jinsoul could definitely see the appeal in this._

_Something wet touched her upper lip. Her eyebrows tugged together in confusion. It moved to brush very briefly along the top of her lower lip before Kim Lip was gently coaxing her mouth open with her lips, a hand holding her steady at the back of her head. A heat introduced itself into her mouth that she had never experienced before, and her instincts had her curiously meeting her tongue with it._

_Another wave of dizziness struck her, the warmth in her stomach spreading down all the way to her thighs._

_Scared at all the unidentified sensations, Jinsoul jumped away._

_“Wh-what are you doing?” she tried blinking through the fog that had clouded her sight, her nails still gripping tightly onto the back of her hands. She felt strange – like there were a million ants crawling underneath her skin and begging her to take the bothersome fabric rubbing on top of it off._

_Kim Lip deadpanned her with a disbelieving look, pink tongue appearing to brush the corner of her mouth. “I’m kissing you, what does it look like I’m doing?”_

_“No, what- what was that?” Jinsoul could feel herself shaking, her legs trembling from where she had firmly planted them on the floor, tightly tensed together. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was scared of the sudden feelings that were happening in her body that she didn’t know how to explain, or if it was because she was anxious about the entire situation in general._

_Regarding her quietly for a moment, Kim Lip searched her appearance. “That was my tongue,” she said finally. “It’s normal – you even used yours when I kissed you like that.”_

_Jinsoul frowned. She had never heard of people using their tongues when they kissed. Her friends had never told her anything about that and the thought of doing it was slightly off-putting when she considered it._

_Sensing her confusion, Kim Lip rolled her eyes, pulling her closer once again._

_Jinsoul hadn’t even noticed it, but the demon had moved her so close that she was practically sitting in her lap. Their legs were nearly entwined with how Kim Lip had edged hers underneath in her efforts to press her torso against Jinsoul’s side, the swell of her breasts persistent on her bicep. One thing that had always exasperated Jinsoul was how soft Kim Lip’s skin felt, especially on the more tender parts of her body like her thigh, which pressed snuggly against the back of Jinsoul’s._

_Of course, the first thing that Jinsoul worried about was that she was too heavy to be sitting on Kim Lip’s lap, especially when the demon looked so thin and small. It wasn’t like Jinsoul was stick thin like some of the other unfortunate families in the village._

_“Kiss me again,” the demon demanded, breaking her out of her self-deprecating thoughts. A cursory peck was placed to the edge of Jinsoul’s jaw followed by one closer to her ear, and then Kim Lip was nosing her cheek with a low drone. Almost like a cat would when begging for affection. “And you can use your hands, too.”_

_“My hands?” Jinsoul was suddenly very self-conscious of her cold, tense hands that felt as if they had turned to stone with how hard she was clasping them. “What would I use them for?”_

_Kim Lip grumbled something beneath her breath before she moved to grip them with one of her own, the metal of the ring on her index finger warm against her skin when she grabbed them._

_“Do I have to show you everything?” She pried them apart, taking one of them between her fingers and tugging it towards her shoulder where her hair fell down in neat waves. The texture was light, giving way easily under Jinsoul’s cold fingers. “I like it when my head gets scratched – but not too hard, I don’t want my scalp to be bleeding because of your nails.”_

_Bewildered, Jinsoul simply stared back at Kim Lip, surprised at the instructions. “Like- like this?”_

_Tentatively, she moved her hand beneath the locks of hair and coursed her fingers through them. The feeling was calming, reminding her of when she would do one of her sister’s hair before they would go to bed. The next motions followed easily as she scratched as lightly as she could without hurting the other, aware of how sharp her nails could be when she hadn’t taken care of them. When Kim Lip’s eyes fluttered at the sensation, Jinsoul couldn’t help but feel a surge of amusement._

_She really was like a cat._

_Purring in approval, Kim Lip moved in and captured her lips once more._

_Jinsoul tried to do as the demon had directed her, very gently experimenting with her touch when Kim Lip guided her other hand to her other shoulder. She found that she liked when the back of her neck was scratched too, the sudden feeling of the demon melting beneath her hands telling her just how effective her touch could be._

_Kissing was surprisingly entertaining when she was actually doing it like how Kim Lip wanted her to. The small sounds of approval that the demon would give her would make a cosy kind of validation settle on her chest that managed to drown out everything else she was feeling. The ticklish prickles that kissing gave her were much nicer than the harsh slaps of abuse she would receive from the Monster for disobeying. The hand from her hair to grip at her thigh tenderly wasn’t anything like the brash nature of the creature kissing her._

_There was this safe bubble that she had created around herself in those instances that let her let her guards down. As if she didn’t need to be in constant high alert for any bloodsucking creatures that wanted to use her until they were bored and cast her back to be a plaything for her owner. Here, she could just focus on the heat beneath Kim Lip’s touch and the toasty temperature that contrasted greatly with the winter just outside. She could envision a life where she was still a human, and she had disobeyed the wishes of her parents to sneak out with the prettiest girl in the village to practice the dance of kissing._

_“I’m tired,” Jinsoul said after a while, because she could feel herself beginning to mellow out from how comfortable she had managed to let herself be. The fatigue that had riddled her senseless had approached her in this comfort zone and was now weighing her down, her movements sluggish as Kim Lip continued to warm her up._

_Halting her endeavours, Kim Lip acknowledged her drowsy state as she leaned back. Her eyes were hooded by long eyelashes, as if she too had allowed herself to be as contented as Jinsoul had, though that didn’t stop her from mumbling an irate, “mortals” under her breath and hoist Jinsoul up effortlessly (Jinsoul’s previous worries about being too heavy completely wiped from her mind). She proceeded to toss her further up onto the large bed that Kim Lip had forced them to share._

_The sleep was momentarily wiped from Jinsoul’s mind on impact, her mind becoming wild and alert as she was pushed out from her previously sheltered state. Adrenaline burst in into her veins, and any traces of fatigue had been lost mid-flight._

_She mourned the loss, almost feeling the tears prickling at the back of her eye._

_“You are not asleep yet,” Kim Lip obliviously pointed out, a blank expression on her face as she lithely crawled after her. Her movements were sluggish too, and Jinsoul thought that perhaps it was the demon’s pride that was keeping her from admitting defeat and letting sleep take the both of them._

_“You just threw me through the air,” Jinsoul bit, unable to stop her annoyance from showing. “How could I be asleep after that?”_

_The demon stopped her crawling once she reached her, absent-mindedly pawing at the covers with her hands. She regarded her, eyes still that dark colour that had the ants crawl faster under her skin. “You were just tired moments ago,” Kim Lip drawled, stretching out her back comfortably before cheekily eyeing her again. “But I guess I will have to kiss the energy out of you again.”_

_Jinsoul almost didn’t know what to say._

_But she didn’t have to say anything at all when Kim Lip draped her body over hers in the most elegant of manners, as if she were art she didn’t want to ruin with her weight, her lips were covering hers before she could speak once more. By now, Jinsoul’s automatic response was to return the attention, unhesitatingly greeting the tongue that dipped into her mouth with her own, massaging it carefully to maybe (hopefully) draw out those quiet mewls._

_Kim Lip kissed her until their lips were chapped, both of them breathless and melting into the mattress as they were._

_She kissed her until Jinsoul managed to fall asleep into a dreamless slumber._

_The best kind of sleep when her nights as of late had been plagued with death and blood and monsters with dying children between their jaws._

_-_

“What took you so long?” Jinsoul trudges carefully through the now waist high grasslands, unaware of what could possibly be trampled beneath her feet if she’s not careful.

The grass does not part around her like it does for Jungeun. It’s not tender and it’s not as attentive to her needs. But that doesn’t mean that Jinsoul isn’t tender or attentive to its needs in return. Venturing further across the lands has started to draw Jinsoul into the new environment. Arrays of colours painting its landscape like a watercolour painting and animated creatures that by earthly standard should not be moving as autonomously as they were – it was all becoming somewhat enchanting to Jinsoul. As if this land were a living, breathing thing, despite its purpose was to hold all the dead on its back.

So even if the land was not considerate of where she placed her footing – unforgiving when she teetered clumsily on her legs and almost jubilant when she fell – Jinsoul would still be careful to place her weight cautiously, afraid that she would hurt it somehow.

Having taken notice to her slow pace (because by comparison, Jungeun would already be miles ahead of her if she didn’t keep on stopping to wait for her) Jungeun supportively held a hand behind her back. Not touching, but present in the way it made goosebumps rise where it hovered. It may have been because she had noticed the way the land was so unresponsive to Jinsoul that Jungeun walked beside her at such a close distance, or it may have been for another motive entirely, but Jinsoul was grateful to be able to walk along the same path that parted for the demon’s steps, feeling as if she were becoming a part of the new world around her.

“I don’t think I would have known how many days I waited if it weren’t for that symphilian reminding me every single day,” Jinsoul said.

His presence had been irritating. His words easily got under her skin and his attempts at getting her to get into bed with him were vile. But if it weren’t for him, Jinsoul was almost positive that she would have let herself be deranged into madness. The bottom of the well had reminded her a little too much of the hole that had been her home for seventy years too long, and just having someone to make conversation with (even if it was stale) was more than enough to keep her functioning.

Jungeun made a small grunt of acknowledgement, looking as stoic as ever with her muted expression and tactical gaze. Something that (rather fascinatingly) they both seemed to share.

“I’m sorry for whatever Jaehyun did or said during that time,” her voice, however, contrasted with the appearance of collectiveness and composure she was successfully managing to pull off. “I forgot how carried away he tends to get… and don’t even get me started on MJ, he’s another cyclone in his own right…”

It was strange, how easy it was to sink back into old habits.

To be able to let the coil in her shoulders loosen a little now that she had Jungeun physically guarding her back. Getting back into the habit of speaking without the weight of the sharp pain she so bitterly carried with her behind her every word. Existing with Jungeun – when the latter had begun to open herself up to human customs and adopted her human name – had always been easy in a way that, although wasn’t entirely conventional (what with the underlying hints of sexual tension and repressed emotions), it was right.

This was dangerous.

The part in Jinsoul that screamed for self-preservation reared its head back in protest, and a wave of annoyance washed over her.

“I was sure you forgot about me, considering you took your sweet time to get here.” Jinsoul snapped before she could even process it, and the cutting words were back to falling off the tip of her tongue as easy as water falling from a cliff.

Jungeun was always quick to bite. “You don’t have to be rude about it,” she sneered back, and the feeling of something pricking at the back of her calf crudely shook her out of her aggravation. “I’m pretty sure that the only time I spent sleeping while I was trying to find a way to get to you was when I would pass out from exhaustion or when Yerim physically forced me into bed, so don’t start getting all whiny about me taking so long when I was desperate to find a way back to you.”

Guilt sparked inside of Jinsoul, and she resisted the urge to smack her forehead at her brashness.

She had been entirely serious when she had told Jungeun that she wanted to learn how to trust her again. Had allowed her to put the collar around her neck (which was almost weightless with how loose the demon had wrapped it) as an act of what would hopefully be forgiveness.

But it seemed as if that was easier said than done.

While she wanted to mend the broken relations between them, at the same time she wanted nothing to do with the bridge that had already been burnt.

Words like ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t come easy to her.

Communication was never one of her fortes – more often than not I would get her tied up into trouble that could have easily been avoided if it hadn’t been for her reluctance to do just that. Their entire relationship was proof of it. She knew that it wasn’t just Jungeun’s mistakes that had taken them to this point – it was also her own incapability of handling her emotions in a healthy way, and listening to the more merciful part of herself rather than the defence mechanism that insisted she push away the person that had the potential to destroy her with just a few words.

Jinsoul hesitantly brushed her fingers against the bare skin of Jungeun’s shoulder. Dark eyes came to meet hers, and in an unspoken conversation it seemed like Jungeun knew exactly what she had wanted to say. Just with her touch.

Clearing her throat, Jinsoul dropped the hand back to her side. “How- How is Yerim?” Adding onto the pile of remorse, this was another thing she couldn’t help but feel guilt over. “The last thing I remember of her was- well, Hyunjin hit her in the face with a rifle and she passed out…”

Yerim was her first creation. Someone she viewed as one of her own. Back then, the person who was closest to her in the world.

She still remembered coming across the broken girl in the meagre streets where the world had been reduced to a simple ‘it’s me or them’ mentality. Where war and conflict raged on, blood both figuratively and literally coating the streets without even so much as a hint of shame for the repercussions. The men that had moved into the land, with their oppressive weapons and sick minds, had seized her away from her family and had done unspeakable things to her. (Jinsoul knew because she had seen it first-hand.) And when they had no more use for her, they left her for dead in the streets of someone else’s property in hopes to rid themselves of the nuisance that was once an innocent, seventeen-year-old girl’s body.

Jinsoul couldn’t ever bear to leave her like that.

To have her last memories of the world be something so morbid and horrible.

She knew that that’s how her siblings had died.

Even her four-year-old little sister, who liked to have stories read to her and lullabies sung before she went to sleep.

So she had done what she thought was the most merciful thing and had turned her – with the intention of giving her a life that she was never able to be granted from her family background, and to take care of her in a way that Jinsoul’s own creator never had for her.

She had done well.

Yerim grew up beautifully (though her appearance was stagnated at the same age that Jinsoul turned her). She learned how to read and write, taught by what Jinsoul had picked up on her many years of living. Read many discourses that discussed the power struggles in their time. She was compassionate even to those that did not deserve it – punishing accordingly yet pardoning them their lives when they deserved it. She took on an interest in the many debates and struggles being fought by those that were deemed unequal. If there was one thing that Yerim hated the most, it was discrimination and inequality.

At the time, it had felt like Jinsoul had gained another part to her family.

When the syndicate had torn them apart, Jinsoul felt like a she had been hollowed out. Like there was a part of her that would always be missing.

She knew now that it was the bond of a creator and their creation being severed, because she had known no better at the time to strengthen it in its early stages.

“She was… broken.” Jungeun was careful with her choice of words. Jinsoul knew because she pursed her lips multiple times as if she hadn’t allowed whatever other sentences that had been in her mind to come out. There was something in the way that her frown looked pained that looked so strikingly familiar. “I know that what she did… it was a betrayal. She went behind my back – _our_ backs – and worked alongside Cha- that psychopath. But at the same time…”

“Guilt,” Jinsoul supplied, feeling her heart clench in her chest. “It’s guilt.”

“Yeah,” Jungeun breathed.

And just with the exhale it was as if Jinsoul could feel every ounce of her regret. As if both of their hearts ached just the same, just like they had when they had been bound by their soul mark. Jungeun’s convinced mindset that this was somehow all of her fault, even though it had been a culmination of both of their short comings, weighed down on Jinsoul more than ever, because she was aware that her absence had a large part to play in this.

“If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in what the government were doing and trying to find out what exactly was going on with Hyunjin- Hell, even back during the times when they took you from us and I hadn’t thrown myself into my work, then maybe… maybe Yerim wouldn’t have felt the need to go out and try to look for help in a stranger.” Every single one of her words struck home for Jinsoul. “Maybe she would have felt like she even had the choice to come talk to me. That I was an option. I was still her family…”

“It’s not just you.”

Jungeun jumped when she felt Jinsoul slide her hand into hers. She looked like a wild, scared animal that had been caught in the headlights, debating whether to flee or face its fears.

Jinsoul knew that this reaction of fear was because of her. The image she had tried so hard to portray to Jungeun that she absolutely despised her and wanted nothing to do with her, when in reality if Jungeun ever left her side, Jinsoul would have most likely collapsed under the weight of her own demons.

It was a strange thing, to be in love with the person who had caused you the most pain.

Jinsoul hadn’t known what to do.

Had it been anyone else – anyone but the person who had supported her quietly and given her unconditional amounts of understanding and time – Jinsoul would have killed them on the spot the next time that she saw them.

But it was Jungeun.

And Jinsoul hadn’t known it until she was opening the door of her new home to find her waiting nervously in the front porch. (They hadn’t seen each other in countless months and Jinsoul had thought that her entire life had been set and planned out.) She’d had suspicions – especially when a familiar name other than her lover’s had unknowingly slipped from her lips when they had been making love. But it was in the moment where Jinsoul saw her for the very first time in a year that she realized she was in love with her.

Looking at Jungeun’s startled and confused eyes, unable to find one place to look at her as she kept changing between her eyes to her lips to a place on her cheek, Jinsoul knew that she was still in love with her.

“I wasn’t there for Yerim even though it was my duty as her creator- as her older sister,” Jinsoul corrected. “Even though I still had to take care of Hyunjin because she was a Newborn and was unfamiliar with everything, I should have taken the time to ask how she was doing, or if she was okay…”

“She probably felt like you abandoned her…” Jungeun’s voice was quiet, though it didn’t stop the delivery from being like a loud slap that had her ears ringing.

Caught off-guard, Jinsoul scanned Jungeun’s expression.

Her eyes were set determinedly on the grass ahead of them that was beginning to diminish in size, though still continued to part obediently for them. It almost seemed like she hadn’t meant to let that comment slip in the first place, with how wary her frown tightened her features. Even so, her grip on her hand tightened, firmly clasping onto it as if she were afraid that Jinsoul would let go. And even though her comment had successfully managed to strike Jinsoul where she had least expected it, she couldn’t help but feel a strange sort of pity and fault that culminated into a strange sort of throbbing in her chest.

Quietly following after Jungeun’s more calculated movements down the abruptly steep slope, Jinsoul tried not to be brash as she said, “Is that how you felt?”

Jungeun met her gaze with conflict, her hand extended to support her as she climbed down after her.

They had both been bad at communicating their feelings. It must have stemmed from Jinsoul’s repressed childhood, when women were treated as maidens who could help around the house with the family and chores and had no place to express their opinions if it wasn’t asked for. Since the very beginning, they let their actions speak for themselves in a kind of conversation that took the weight off the pressure of having to verbalise their burdening emotions. While it was easy to forget, Jungeun was a demon in nature and in background, and Jinsoul was all too aware about how they felt with expressing emotions that weren’t sexual desire, anger and surface-level happiness. It had worked when everything was simpler. When it was just them against the world. But Jinsoul was aware that for something like this to work, actions and good intentions would no longer suffice.

“This isn’t about me,” Jungeun tried to deflect, but Jinsoul tugged at her to stop walking and turn to look at her desperate expression.

Begging to talk – to try and make things right.

Sighing, Jungeun dragged her feet along the ground and angled herself so she was fully facing her.

“If I had been Yerim, and I found out that the person that I cared about most in the world had replaced me with someone else – someone that looked similar to me, no less – I would be feeling a little like a reject.”

Jinsoul felt herself become prickly at her words. She wanted to lash out and say that when she had turned Hyunjin it wasn’t so that she could replace Yerim, but she stopped herself from saying anything to interrupt. After all, she had been the one that had asked her to talk. And even though what she was saying was (although not intentionally) making her feel like the worst person alive, she had to try to understand where it was that Jungeun was coming from.

“Did you know that Yerim cried when she came home after finding out that Hyunjin had been turned by you?” Jungeun wasn’t looking at her, but her grip on her hand was still tight. Like she was using her as an anchor to hold her down so she wouldn’t get lost in her own thoughts and emotions in spite of her words. “I didn’t think I had ever seen her cry so much. Not since the syndicate put you away into the ground, at least, but it had been years since then and I thought that she was doing so much better but – I guess being able to catch scent of her creator for the very first time in years and it being on another sanguisuge… if I were her, I would have felt just the same.”

Guilt was a terrible thing. It lingered there in the back of the mind, small and hovering almost as if non-existent, but it’s sharp claws always dug profoundly. Hints of it would only be noticeable if you prodded and picked at the memories that it was so deeply rooted into, so when it was jolted and moved it became all-consuming.

Jinsoul’s teeth snared at her lower lip, biting harshly in an attempt to keep the tears at bay.

She had been so caught up in what Hyunjin was feeling and what she was thinking that she had barely thought about anyone else.

Hadn’t even thought about herself.

“You probably feel like I’m not in the position to be reprimanding you about this,” Jungeun’s voice was cold and impersonal, “but I am Yerim’s legal guardian for a reason. And I won’t ever take her for granted ever again.”

There were a lot of things that Jinsoul wanted to say. Excuses that although were valid, were excuses in their own right when you looked at them. Explanations as to why Jinsoul had separated herself so much from Yerim – like feeling like if she returned to Yerim she would no longer be able to fill in that gap that she used to fill in. It was all too much, but these weren’t things she should be telling Jungeun.

She should be explaining all of this to Yerim.

Instead, she tried to focus on why Jungeun’s voice shook the way it did. Because although Jinsoul was aware of the care that they both held for the young sanguisuge, it didn’t warrant the sudden expression of neglection as if the pain that Yerim was feeling was something that she shared so deeply.

“And you?” Jinsoul asked, unable to stop the way her fingers loosened ever so slightly. As if she were providing Jungeun an ‘out’ if she needed it. “Did you feel abandoned?”

Their hands lost grip, and Jungeun slid them slightly apart so that they would only be connected by the fingers. Jinsoul’s heart lurched in her chest, undeniably panicked at the thought of Jungeun letting go forever and never speaking to her again. No matter how many times she had told the demon to leave her alone and to never set foot in her life again, she had never truly meant it with entire certainty. Because she knew that there was a part of her that needed Jungeun whether she wanted it or not. And she knew that she had to let go of the hatred that had kept her afloat for so long, because it was like holding onto a scalding rope that would just cut away at her flesh the more she held on.

Jungeun’s ears were red, her equally scarlet tail swinging anxiously behind her as she pondered over her words. “I… I did but I know that I’m in no position to feel that way after everything that I’ve done.” She spoke quickly, as if afraid that Jinsoul was going to call her out. “I don’t expect to be prioritised like I actually mean something to you but-“

“But you do mean something to me,” Jinsoul bit out, frowning once she said it. She could see Jungeun was shocked by her sudden confession, but she had to think through her own feelings before she could even begin to process another’s. “You always have, in a way…”

The more that Jinsoul thought about it, the more she started to realise that she was the toxic one in their relationship.

Taking out all of her frustrations and anger on someone who wasn’t willing to fight her back (at least not in the emotional aspect – Jungeun had always fought back whenever things got physical) was so wrong on so many levels. And Jinsoul had been very aware of that – had thought that this was something she should stop doing to salvage her dignity. But everything had just been piling up. She was convinced that if she wanted others to view her like someone that was capable of handling the control she craved so much, then she would have to be able to control her emotions just as easily as she controlled political matters. Respect wasn’t handed over just because she asked for it; it had to be earned.

She supposed that displaying her emotions in such a raw manner to the person who had already seen her at her worst multiple times throughout her life wouldn’t do much to change that chance at respect.

In reality, it should have been Jinsoul begging for Jungeun’s forgiveness.

“Jungeun I was w-wrong I- when I did all that when I just… I couldn’t wai- I forgave a long- I-“

“Jinsol, you don’t have to rush,” Jungeun rushed closer quickly, putting a hand at her waist as if to physically steady her as well as pacify her incoherent stuttering. “I won’t interrupt you.” Almost reflexively, she reached up to brush with the back of her knuckles at Jinsoul’s embarrassed flushed cheeks, looking imploringly into her eyes to reassure. “You don’t have to rush, I’m listening.”

It had been a long time since something like this had happened to her.

Words were rushing to tumble out of her mouth at the same rate they were forming and flying around in her brain, desperate to materialise before someone could interject and cut off her thought process. It wasn’t like it was an unknown fact, but she talked slow and sluggish and taking all the time that she needed. No one interrupted her because they valued what she had to say, so she didn’t feel the need to spit out her thoughts. Because it was one thing that she noticed about herself, but she usually let herself get carried away by the conversation, and any points she had previously thought of before would be wiped from her memory like it had been just a glitch, and all she wanted to say slipped through her fingers. This was something that she hadn’t had to worry in a long time, because she had kept herself cool, calm and collected with the exercises she had tailored over time to stop just this from happening.

Jungeun was one of the few people who was aware of this flaw of hers.

“What were you saying?” She asked, encouragingly squeezing at where she held her hip for support and prompting her with a nod.

Jinsoul inhaled, trying to quell the frustration at her own faults. “The way that I treated you,” she bit her tongue when the words wouldn’t come out as quick as she wanted them to but continued to push forward because Jungeun needed to hear this. “It was wrong.”

The demon quietly observed her. If she was shocked or surprised at her admission, she effectively hid it behind the stoic expression she wore as her armour.

“I’m not saying that my reasons for hating you initially were misplaced. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to completely forgive you for what you did.”

Jungeun nodded understandingly, hints of remorse daring to show in her eyes.

“But my behaviour towards you shouldn’t have- well, I shouldn’t have tried to fight you at every turn, and I shouldn’t have said things that I knew would hurt you.” Jinsoul had had a long time to think about this, she had just put it off with excuses that she had a right to keep dragging it on a little more. “I’m not sure if you realise this, but I’m- I haven’t been good for you.” It was a miracle that Jungeun still loved her so whole-heartedly the way that she did – so open with her bottomless love and affection. “I know that you think that you love me, but there should be no world in this universe where you should be allowed to love me.”

There was a moment’s pause where Jungeun puffed out her chest in what seemed to be her way of keeping herself from interrupting and where Jinsoul stopped herself from going on a useless self-deprecating rant.

When it was clear that Jinsoul had said everything that she had wanted to say, Jungeun released the breath she had been holding captive.

And anger seemed to come with it as it coloured her face in that passionate hue.

“Jinsol, I want you to know that if you ever tell me what I should and shouldn’t be allowed to do with my _feelings_ , I will murder you myself.” Jungeun said, and though there was a light tone to her words Jinsoul could tell that she hadn’t really appreciated her comment. “While I appreciate your apology and your regret, I don’t think that you should be putting yourself down to the point where you think you’re unworthy of love.”

Jinsoul felt herself become prickly once more, and the complaint of, “But who are you to decide what I’m worthy of?” slipped out.

Inconsolable, Jungeun’s tail whipped forward to prick at her shins. “I’m in love with you.” The demon had stepped forward in her moment of rage so that she pushed into her space, chest proudly sticking forward as if she were trying to display her soul mark. “Whether you think yourself worthy of this or not, it’s not going to stop how I feel.” Jinsoul could feel the easily irate tail that had a tendency to do as it pleased curl around the back of her leg. “You asked me who I am to you.” Jungeun dipped forward so that their foreheads bumped affectionately, like she had the habit of doing. “Well there’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

Jinsoul felt her entire body tense up again.

Become tight with anticipation of whatever it was that Jungeun had kept from her.

Because usually things like this were bad news.

“What,” she croaked, desperately clutching onto the fabric of her skirt.

A loud sound startled her out of their moment, similar to an eruption of voices and shouts that reminded her all too much of the city chaos in the middle of rush hour. There was a cacophony of sound that hadn’t been there before, as if someone had just taken off a cover and exposed them to all of these noises.

When Jinsoul glanced over Jungeun’s shoulder, she saw that the grassland that had once been in front of them had now changed to a dry, orange landscape that beamed too much like a red desert under a yellow sun. The very cliché depiction of what Hell would have looked like if someone were to describe it.

Jungeun turned to look back at what had appeared behind them and widened her eyes, muttering a, “I guess we were just on time for The Shift.”

But that didn’t stop Jinsoul from suddenly registering Jungeun’s words that had been spoken during that moment of chaos.

With a loud thump in her chest, Jinsoul made sure to look at the other woman. Her entire view on her was changing before her very eyes when she repeated, “I’m your soulmate?”

Jungeun snapped her head back to look at her, a concoction of emotions displayed on her face.

Neither of them said anything else when someone was calling for their attention, unaware of the abrupt tension that had burst between them. They were oblivious to the silent conversation being spoken between them, repeatedly shouting to get them to look over, and when Jinsoul finally gave up trying to read whatever it was that Jungeun was trying to convey with her confusingly innocent, wide eyes, she found what she thought was the strangest creature she had ever laid her eyes on.

“Are you guys going to step into Infernus or not?” The murky dark green glob growled at them, the beads on what appeared to be his head blinking owlishly at them. “You’ve been standing there for quite a while now, I don’t have all day.”

Jinsoul thought that maybe she had stepped back into the 70s when she’d had her hippie phase.

This all had to be some hallucination.

-

_Jinsoul woke with a scream on her mouth._

_Her hands desperately clutched at the sheets around her, frantic to know that she hadn’t been bound up by horrible metal chains while the Monster killed her family in front of her very eyes and forced her to drink the blood from her siblings. That she hadn’t just been tortured until she could feel herself slip into insanity and she hadn’t tasted the copper on her tongue._

_Too apprehensive to be laying down, Jinsoul quietly sat herself up and curled her legs into her chest. She dragged a hand down her sweaty face, barely feeling the tips of her fingers from the way that they had numbed. Escaped strands of hair clung onto the sides of her face and across her forehead, and they felt a little too much like the touch that had dragged along the profile of her face as her jaw had been forced open for the crimson to drop into her mouth so her shaking hands scrambled to wipe them off before she could lose herself in her mind’s imaginations._

_She barely heard the groan beside her, almost thinking that it had been a trick of her mind until she felt an arm sliding familiarly around her waist._

_“Why are you being so infuriatingly loud, it’s the middle of the night.” Kim Lip’s hoarse voice broke through the blood rushing through her ears and a weight was dropping against her back to send her upper body slumping forward. Jinsoul hadn’t been expecting her to be there. “Do I have to punish you for disturbing me in my sleep…?”_

_At her words, Jinsoul felt bile rise up in the back of her throat._

_She shrugged her off like her skin burned under her touch, anxiously kicking off the heavy bedsheets._

_She didn’t want anything touching her body._

_Even the night gown was making her skin crawl._

_Jinsoul scratched at her arms. She tried to rid herself of the sensation of the Monster groping at her so shamelessly, staining her skin with her filthy touch. Countless memories unfortunately resurfaced in the forefront of her mind the more she let herself get lost in her thoughts._

_“What’s happening? What are you doing?”_

_Kim Lip’s presence had always been something she could sense even when she wasn’t fully paying attention. Survival instincts had trained her to sniff out the citrus sweet scent before the demon had even stepped into the room – to listen out for the easily excitable heartbeat that would buzz and flutter at even the slightest of movements. She could feel the demon’s hasty actions beside her even if her eyes were shut as firmly as possible. Her heart was buffering painfully in her chest._

_“Jinsoul-“_

_“Don’t touch me,” Jinsoul growled, flinching away so hard from the hand that tried to grip at her elbow that she scrambled against the sheets for balance. Her eyes had snapped to their now neon blue._

_It had taken a while for her to transition from the Newborn red and into her natural colour, though it hadn’t been something to celebrate when it signified the full turning of her specie. When she had caught sight of herself in the floor-length mirror after she had refused to feed for several days and met the blue gaze, Jinsoul had wept until her lungs ached from how much she had cried. It had taken Kim Lip force feeding her blood for her to finally eat again, and even then, she hadn’t been able to accept what she had truly become._

_For the first time since Jinsoul had met Kim Lip, the demon looked astonishingly dejected._

_Maybe it was Kim Lip’s unnaturally respectful (in comparison to the other beings in the estate) behaviour that made Jinsoul find a confidant in her. Perhaps it was how Jinsoul was practically attached at the hip to the demon who so proudly claimed to be her owner. Over time, without her even being aware of the process taking place behind the scenes, she managed to get her used to her presence. Or it was the kisses that they had been exchanging ever since Jinsoul had agreed to give in that had managed to soften her up._

_Whatever it was, the make guilt flourishing in Jinsoul’s chest when she saw the surprisingly childish pout on the demon’s lips originated from somewhere._

_“I-I don’t want you to touch me right now…” Jinsoul explained in a more subdued tone. Her nails dug into the flesh at her upper arms while she hugged herself, trying to pull herself together._

_Kim Lip scrunched her face up. “Isn’t that what you mortals need when you’re sad? A hug?”_

_At the confused expression on the demon’s face, Jinsoul took a steadying breath. “No, not right now – I just had a nightmare about…” she couldn’t bear to continue the sentence, words catching in her throat. Thinking about it was just making her feel so much worse, and the thought of verbalising her internal trauma made her want to empty her insides onto the bed. So instead she tried to focus on the fact that Kim Lip was actually there, sitting beside her on their bed and not in the Monster’s quarters like how she had promised she’d be earlier on in the night. “What are you doing here?” she settled on, voice trembling._

_The demon reverted back to her usual aloof, confident self in the blink of an eye. A roll of the eye was her expressing her mild annoyance as she relaxed and leant back onto her hands. “Saerim had other things to distract herself with.”_

_Jinsoul flinched._

_Even if the demon was oblivious to most mortal customs, Jinsoul’s reaction didn’t go amiss._

_It felt like an epiphany settling in for the both of them; the quiet setting of realisation in the thick silence between them as Jinsoul curled further in on herself and Kim Lip straightened her posture._

_Kim Lip shifted closer, though stilled as soon as she saw Jinsoul’s body gripped with strain. “Can I… I’m going to sit close to you,” she halted immediately after she saw the flash of neon blue warning her to stay back, “but I won’t touch you, I swear.”_

_Jinsoul held her breath, trying not to visibly shake when Kim Lip moved so that they sat together side by side. She could feel the warmth exuding from her bare legs scorching her own, her body heat radiating from her even if they weren’t touching just as she promised. Silence stifled any conversation between them. Instead, Kim Lip quietly watched Jinsoul while the latter tried to get her bearings back together. Kim Lip who usually loved to talk her ear off about the most explicit topics, or what she would get up to back in the middle plane, or how she exactly she wanted to take Jinsoul if she would just let her. For once, the two sat in a silence that didn’t carry any of the usual energy the demon lugged around with her._

_It was in these quiet moments that Jinsoul missed her family the most._

_Being able to hear their tired snores after a particularly taxing day. Or the baby’s wailing for food in the middle of the night that woke up her little brother, who was a light-sleeper, and just begged to be sung back to sleep. Being able to hold her four-year-old sister against her chest because she was scared that the goblins would crawl into her bed and eat her._

_“Kim Lip.”_

_The demon lit up. Her eyes flashed with recognition at her own name and her hands were instinctively reaching out to touch Jinsoul before she remembered what she had told her and swerved them so that they would instead lean on either side of her. Not touching, but close._

_Jinsoul felt her eyes well up a little at the gesture._

_Maybe it was because her standards for kindness had been considerably lowered in a world where she wasn’t expecting to be given anything, but Jinsoul momentarily thought that maybe Kim Lip wasn’t as horrible as she made out to be. There was this strange kind of innocence (even with her wide knowledge on topics restricted for mature beings only) that Jinsoul couldn’t seem to help but associate to the demon._

_“Can you take my mind off… everything?”_

_That innocence was gone the moment Kim Lip’s eyes darkened to their familiar predatory gaze._

_Jinsoul wanted to tell her that she had just meant for her to hold her close until Jinsoul didn’t feel so alone anymore, but it seemed like the lack of attention that the demon had received that night had gotten to her head._

_Kim Lip crawled on her hands and knees, moving at a painfully slow pace when Jinsoul was already anticipating what was to come. (There was that glint of promise behind her eyes that always gave away any hidden intentions the demon was keeping close to her chest.) With a careful hand being placed on the other side of her lap, Kim Lip pushed herself off of her knees so she could gracefully swing her leg over her. During the movement, her hair fell from where it had been tucked behind her ear. Her familiar scent was quick to waft over and prickle at Jinsoul’s nose, making her realize that the last time she’d fed had been the day before when the Monster had forcefully tipped her head back and poured the blood down her throat._

_Feeling the familiar weight sitting on her lap, Jinsoul’s heart began to slow from its prior rampage. It must have been the routine of being in this exact position multiple times and feeling a sense of content that made her nerves fade away. The repetition of this contact and the pleasant sensations that followed._

_A soft hand slid over the surface of her cheek and gently tilted her face up. Equally soft lips sank onto hers and naturally stimulated Jinsoul’s hands to slide over exposed thighs._

_Once in a while Jinsoul would wonder what her parents would think if they saw her like this. If they were still alive, and they burst through the doors of the large bedroom to find her entangled with another woman. She was certain that she would be disowned from their family name and cast into the woods so she could find her way to another village that would take her. Their punishments had always been so strict, yet mindful of the impact that it would have on their children._

_“What are you thinking about?” Kim Lip pulled back, her forearms resting on her shoulders and her fingers dexterously playing with her hair behind her. Usually there would be annoyance in her voice if she thought that Jinsoul wasn’t doing a good enough job, but maybe it had been the way that Jinsoul had startled awake or the melancholy spread across her features that made her tone more considerate._

_Jinsoul distractedly pressed their lips together before pulling away and sinking her face into the demon’s shoulder. “My family,” she said vaguely, hoping that the other wouldn’t prod for more information._

_It seemed like her actions had startled her, however, because Kim Lip’s body had become somewhat stiff. Jinsoul’s arms had subconsciously wrapped around her waist to pull their torsos closer together in a cosy hug, her head burying into the part of her shoulder between where her clavicle was most prominent and where her deltoid began. It must have felt much more affectionate than usual._

_Clearing her throat (the vibrations registering against the side of Jinsoul’s head) Kim Lip adjusted her hand so that it would rest against the back of her head. “Your energy is throwing me off – you need to get rid of it.”_

_Confused, Jinsoul leaned back so she could meet Kim Lip’s determined stare. “What do you mean?”_

_“I mean,” her eyes trailed down the curves of her face to her lips, pressing a soft kiss against them, “your energy is the kind where it’s all dark and rough and kind of uncomfortable to be around.”_

_Jinsoul still had no idea what the demon was talking about, but she nodded anyway to try to get the conversation to stop. Instead she pecked her lips and then her chin, nudging at her jaw with her nose._

_Kim Lip made a satisfied sound that shook through her chest and leaned down to capture her lips again._

_It was always felt extra nice whenever their kisses would take form in this slow pace where it didn’t feel like they had to rush towards a finish line. Urgent kisses appeared to be Kim Lip’s favourite, because whenever Jinsoul would relent to the needy hands grappling at her clothes and shaking body, the demon would become very vocal about how good she was feeling. Despite also seeing why the demon appreciated the fast speed that would usually sprout perspiration on her brow, Jinsoul came to learn that she preferred the slower, more yearning kisses._

_For a brief moment, Jinsoul forgot that she was kissing a demon._

_She was only greeted by the rude awakening when she could feel the speed beginning to pick up again, the set of teeth grazing at her tongue only providing more evidence that Kim Lip had grown too impatient._

_Jinsoul didn’t really have anything to compare it to, but she thought that Kim Lip was a good kisser. She was surprisingly attentive to her responses and more than willing to do anything that would draw out more feedback. If she had to guess, she supposed that that’s what made her so good._

_The demon’s lips broke away to dance across her jaw, occasionally placing open-mouth kisses that would leave Jinsoul’s already blushed face warmer than it had been. One of Kim Lip’s hands brushed along where it had been sliding along her arm to slip underneath her raven hair and cup the back of her head, the pads of her fingers pressing gently where her neck met her skull._

_Something warm and wet wrapped around the lobe of her ear, and Jinsoul felt her eyes opening in confusion at the sensation._

_“What are you doing?” She breathed. Her hands were immobile where they had been comfortably resting on the small of Kim Lip’s back, too afraid to move them._

_What she thought was Kim Lip’s tongue ran along the outside of the shell of her ear. “I’m giving you kisses,” she whispered, the feeling of her lips moving on Jinsoul’s surprisingly sensitive ears making the latter shiver at the feeling of warm breath brushing her skin._

_Jinsoul felt herself gripping onto Kim Lip’s gown when the strange feeling that always formed in her stomach set ablaze abruptly. She wondered if this was a normal reaction when people kissed other people, because it seemed like every time she and Kim Lip kissed the feeling always found a way into her body and would not leave for several hours after. She had many questions, but she was always too afraid to ask Kim Lip because she knew that the demon would make fun of her for not knowing._

_Kim Lip sat back in her lap, her weight settling more firmly onto Jinsoul’s legs as she ducked her head to gain access to her neck._

_Something triggered inside of Jinsoul._

_Flashbacks of the Monster pinning her down to the moist floorboards of her home, the blood of her family seeping into her clothes and hair as sharp teeth sunk into her neck began to play out in front of her. The sensation of the life being drained out of her slowly, the open wound in her neck carelessly bleeding out as if she were a broken barrel spilling out all of its contents. There had been a terrifying moment where everything came to a standstill and all her will to fight evaporated into the night, the fire beginning to swallow her childhood home not even registering in her mind. She remembered trying to scream out for help and the blood guzzling out of her mouth in her efforts. If it hadn’t been for the claws restraining her arms and forcing her to spit out all of the liquid, she would have most likely died choking on her own blood._

_“Wh-what are you doing?” Jinsoul cried out, pushing Kim Lip away from her._

_Surprised, Kim Lip rapidly put her hands out so that she wouldn’t completely topple over onto her side from the force. She slid off of Jinsoul’s lap but stretched her legs out on either side of her so that her calves pressed against her knees, her hands coming to rest between them._

_“Are you going to bite me?” Jinsoul’s voice shook as her fingers subconsciously wrapped around her neck protectively._

_“Only if you ask me to.” Kim Lip shot her a dark grin. She immediately came to the realization that that hadn’t been the right thing to say because her grin was quickly wiped from her face and she was straightening her posture. “No, no, I wasn’t serious – I wasn’t going to bite you.”_

_Jinsoul squinted her eyes at her in suspicion._

_Rolling her eyes almost affectionately, Kim Lip reached out and gently grabbed at the strings that attached themselves to Jinsoul’s collar. “I was only going to kiss your neck,” she said, pulling lightly at the strings. Jinsoul felt herself tugged forward in response, being pulled into reach for Kim Lip to place a reassuring peck on her chin and jaw. “I’m not a sanguisuge, so I don’t really have the teeth to pierce your neck. Not that I like the taste of blood that much anyway.”_

_She was still running high off of adrenaline, her finger trembling on the bed sheets. The blood was rushing loudly through her ears and her senses had heightened so much that she could hear the distant sounds of life in the estate._

_Her attention was taken off from those disturbing triggers as Kim Lip cautiously kissed her. It wasn’t like the usual intense kisses, nor the slow-moving ones that slowly built her up. It was just a simple press of the lips like the one that Jinsoul had spent her whole childhood watching be exchanged between her parents._

_“I’m going to get rid of your energy,” Kim Lip said, eyes searching hers. “Okay?”_

_Having felt herself calm, Jinsoul nodded slowly and allowed the demon to lightly push her back into the bed._

_When the demon settled her knees between hers and lowered herself back into Jinsoul’s neck, she stopped briefly to look up and check the latter’s expression. “I’m just going to kiss you, okay?”_

_Hesitating, Jinsoul tilted her chin down in a timid nod of affirmation. She desperately wanted to close her eyes and wait for the worst, but there was something inside of her that told her that if she closed her eyes then anything could strike in her moment of weakness. So instead of letting her eyelids fall over, she nervously stared at the side of Kim Lip’s head where her jaw met her ear._

_The first brush of the lips made her flinch away._

_Kim Lip’s hand slid over to hold her waist, soothingly rubbing circles against the bottom of her ribcage. “It’s okay,” she delicately bumped at the edge of her jaw to get her to tilt her head back. “I’m going to kiss you again.”_

_Jinsoul inhaled sharply when she felt the warm lips again, this time lingering longer. Bunching her hands up in the sheets, she held herself as still as possible while Kim Lip repeatedly peppered the skin not covered up with the collar with hints of what would be kisses. It felt a lot more different than when she’d had the Monster at her throat, tearing her open so that blood would spill out._

_The Monster had increased her attempts at getting her into her quarters as time went on. Often times she would stop Kim Lip while they were walking around the estate (the demon claimed that they should do some sort of exercise to get Jinsoul moving, seeing as if it were down to the sanguisuge, neither of them would ever see the light of day ever again). Their conversations consisted of the same thing every time: whether or not Jinsoul was in the right frame of mind to not behave like a psychopath. Which was incredibly ironic, considering that the Monster herself was the one who devoured live people every night and liked to watch the life leave their bodies._

_Jinsoul wanted nothing more than to run away from the estate whenever those conversations would come up. The last thing that she wanted to do was somehow end up in the very hands that had stifled the life of her family with the implications that she was supposed to submit to her sexual desires._

_Surprisingly, Kim Lip had been putting off the time when that would happen with very casual yet exaggerated explanations, detailing how Jinsoul would still scream and cry ever time Kim Lip tried to touch her. Her lies were rather harsh in their contents, leaving Jinsoul feeling as if Kim Lip was laughing at her for being traumatised from the events several weeks ago, but there was something that told her that perhaps this was Kim Lip’s way of trying to be kind to her._

_Was what she was doing now kind?_

_She was certainly making feel Jinsoul feel good. (The neck kisses were startingly pleasant when she knew that Kim Lip wasn’t going to try to tear her vocal cords out with her teeth.)_

_Though she supposed that the demon had ulterior motives for making her feel good. After all, any pleasure was a pleasure that Kim Lip could enjoy, what with her obsession with fulfilling her bodily desires. Therefore, in a way it wasn’t out of the kindness of her own heart._

_Jinsoul was startled out of her stupor when the pressure at her neck drew out a lewd sound from her._

_She hadn’t intended to make that sound. A blush rapidly spread across her cheeks, the temperature of her face rising vastly._

_Her downfall and embarrassment, however, seemed to be Kim Lip’s motivation and the reason why her eagerness suddenly spurred on. The pressure increased, keen to make Jinsoul spill more of those noises. Which Jinsoul stifled as much as she could but couldn’t stop the whimpers that escaped her tight lips regardless. Fingers that had been dancing on the outside of her thigh abruptly latched onto the back of her knee, hoisting upward to curl her leg and Jinsoul scrambled her hands to hold onto Kim Lip’s shoulders because she was suddenly swept down across the bed so she lay directly beneath her._

_“I want to hear you,” Kim Lip’s dark eyes bore into hers. Playfully baring her teeth to bite at Jinsoul’s lips, she shuffled around above her so she could lay more comfortably on her._

_Jinsoul frowned, completely swamped by all the sensory information that was hurtling through her mind. “No, it’s embarrassing,” she said, unsure of what to do with the burn in the pit of her stomach and the warmth between her legs. “What are you doing?”_

_Kim Lip huffed frustratedly either at her repeated question or at the way Jinsoul’s night gown was stuck to her perspiring skin, making it difficult for her to lift. “I want to touch you,” she deadpanned, hands scampering beneath the bothersome fabric to explore surfaces never touched before. “I want to make you scream.”_

_Her body reacted weirdly at both the words and the actions, but the overwhelming sense of panic persuaded her hands to grab at the demon’s wrists before she could get her way. With wide eyes, Jinsoul looked at the dark expression on Kim Lip’s face, a mixture of fear and something else bursting in her heaving chest. Thoughts were becoming messier now. Jinsoul wasn’t sure if she wanted Kim Lip to stop or to let her continue whatever it was that she so desperately wanted to do to her._

_Whatever her decision, however, would have to be given quickly because the demon appeared to be losing her patience._

_The open-mouthed kisses along her chest – dangerously near her breasts – were incredibly distracting._

_“I- I’ve never done this.” For some reason, that was the first thing that tumbled from her lips. If it was even possible, her face only seemed to burn brighter when Kim Lip gave her a faux disbelieving look. “What I mean- I don’t- I’m not- I don’t want you to touch me… there.”_

_To say that Kim Lip deflated would be an understatement. Her elbow supporting her gave way and her entire weight (although not heavy by comparison to many toddlers all trying to suffocate her at once) sank into Jinsoul. The latter felt her heart pounding erratically in her chest when she realized that Kim Lip had decided to let her face rest between her breasts, short puffs of warm breath being expelled against the skin there. A groan muffled itself against her body, vibrating against her as Kim Lip wallowed in her self-pity._

_Jinsoul didn’t know what to do. Should she be comforting her for not getting what she wanted? But that would be like comforting a child when they were being bratty about not getting their way._

_Before she could get lost in her own mind, Kim Lip heaved herself up again with a newly determined expression. “I can work with that.”_

_“What?”_

_Kim Lip muffled the following stream of questions in a heated kiss, the energy behind her movements beginning to rile her up again. Jinsoul did everything in her power to keep up, but her inexperience had her flustered out of her mind and mostly just allowing Kim Lip to explore her body however she wanted._

_She was doing something with her hips that was making the unknown pressure in Jinsoul’s stomach coil uncomfortably. Every time that she moved to lift them and rub her body between Jinsoul’s legs, a shot of what she could only describe as pleasure scrambled up her spine and crawled down her legs, forcing her to curl her toes. But just as she had been told, Kim Lip wasn’t touching her with her hands. (One had hooked onto the back of her knee again, pulling her up every time she leant down, and the other was supporting her weight, fingers tangled into Jinsoul’s splayed hair.)_

_“I still want to hear you,” Kim Lip breathed against her mouth, accidentally bumping their foreheads together as she moved above her._

_The traces of sweat on both of their foreheads was strangely comforting, reminding Jinsoul that Kim Lip wasn’t some tireless creature that chased after a release._

_Her hand that had been on her leg momentarily moved from its position to Jinsoul’s face, tugging open her mouth with her thumb. She made sure to drag it along her lower lip as it moved away again. But her hips hadn’t relented, and it was something about a new angle and the continuous build up that had a moan spilling from her mouth and onto Kim Lip’s fingertips._

_Purring in exhilaration, Kim Lip buried her head into the side of her neck, affectionately pushing her head to the side. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” she praised reverently. “You always look best when you’re beneath me.”_

_Jinsoul clenched her eyes shut, the weird pressure becoming too bothersome to ignore._

_“I want to take you properly, but it can wait for now.” The demon’s hand had somehow found its way to her breast, massaging it in a way that Jinsoul couldn’t understand why it felt so good. Couldn’t understand why she was feeling the way she was feeling. “Did you know that there are certain places on a woman’s body that are extremely sensitive?” The pad of her thumb was still wet from where Jinsoul’s tongue had accidentally brushed along it, but Jinsoul only became exceptionally aware of the fact when Kim Lip brushed over her nipple. “If stimulated properly, I don’t need to touch you there for you to cum.”_

_Jinsoul had no idea what she was talking about._

_Admittedly, whatever rant Kim Lip had just gone on had slipped into one ear and gone out of the other, but the faint melody of her voice was still incredibly peaceful to listen to. Kim Lip had a nice voice._

_Kim Lip wrapped her mouth around her earlobe again, and it must have been a mixture of everything that she was doing but Jinsoul felt herself become incredibly tense as a long, drawn out moan rattled her entire world._

_“I- I feel weird,” she grasped at Kim Lip’s back, searching for comfort away from the strange sensations. “What are you-“ Jinsoul gasped, digging her face into the crook of Kim Lip’s neck. “-doing?”_

_“Making you feel good.” Kim Lip wrapped her arm around Jinsoul’s back, which had lifted off the mattress in her search for comfort. She pulled her flush against her body. “It’s okay, sweetheart- what you’re feeling is good, just relax.” Affectionately, she continued to pepper kisses along whatever skin was accessible from Jinsoul hugging her tightly. “Let yourself feel good, darling, it’s okay.”_

_It must have been the way Jinsoul’s own hips involuntarily jerked up, or the overstimulation of pleasure all over her body from the way that her hair was slightly trapped between the fingers of the arm that Kim Lip used for support, to the way that Kim Lip had entwined their legs so Jinsoul would be able to feel everything she was doing to her._

_Maybe it had been the sweet talk that was startlingly disarming._

_Jinsoul felt her vision become spotted, the edges tinting a strange sort of white. She felt herself become slack in the demon’s arms, her head briefly lolling back without the support._

_In a considerate manner, Kim Lip lowered her back onto the bed though continued to hover closely._

_All of her senses had dimmed. She couldn’t hear nor smell anything._

_And then there was a gentle kiss on her cheek and Kim Lip telling her to remember to breathe, and she was gasping for air._

_One last moan fell from her lips and she sank against the mattress, trying to blink herself back to normal from whatever that had been. Her vision was neon blue, staring intensely through her lashes up at the person responsible for her state of distress._

_“Did you feel good?” Kim Lip asked cheekily, a prideful grin blooming on her face._

_Jinsoul smacked at her shoulder, pushing her off and feeling her face refuse to let up from how it burned insistently._

_“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Kim Lip reached over quickly to press a kiss onto the top of her head. “You did good.”_

-

“A human soul I see,” the demon chuckled, though Jinsoul couldn’t tell whether his expression was amiable or not what with the unfamiliar configuration of his body. “Recently come back from your trip to the shit hole?”

Jungeun had pulled the cloak that Jaehyun had given her around her shoulders as quick as she could when she noticed the other being that was present. Even through the layers, however, Jinsoul could tell that her shoulders were bunched higher than normal and that her head was ducked to hide as much of her face as she could.

“I can’t really say I know exactly why it’s a shit hole since Boss hasn’t given me a case to go down there yet.” The demon spoke in a gruff voice, deep enough that Jinsoul thought that perhaps it was male. “But I _bet_ it’s just as bad as everyone else says it is.”

What Jinsoul had originally thought was a brown colour now made itself more distinctly orange under the new fiery lighting of the dry land. It didn’t have any traces of hair or fur on its body, and it ambled beside Jungeun on its two back legs with its three tails swinging freely behind him. Its height almost entirely dwarfed the two of them in comparison. The top of Jungeun’s head only reached the armpit of his upper set of arms, his other two arms smaller by comparison but occasionally reaching down to touch the sandy surface of the hard ground as if to support his large body mass.

Jinsoul didn’t think she’d ever seen a creature like this during her infatuation with ancient mythology.

“Not much of a talker are you,” the demon angled what looked like its head towards Jungeun, considering it didn’t really seem to have a neck.

“No,” Jungeun said shortly.

“Huh.” He sounded almost surprised by Jungeun’s behaviour. “Usually when someone gets a human soul, they always wanna brag about it. Make us feel especially bad for being younger.”

Jinsoul tensed up.

If Jungeun was making it obvious that they clearly didn’t belong amongst all of these demons, then they’d be caught before they could even make it halfway through Infernus. Jinsoul had tried to memorise as much of the drawing that MJ had done, but what with her memory not really working in her favour most of the time, she could only remember that there were several different places in the middle world that they had to walk through before they could even make it back to the lower plain. (Hoping that Jungeun had secured a way for them to get back.)

A tense silence engulfed them, though it wasn’t really too quiet with the havoc occurring around them.

Distant screams of suffering were muted by the loud sounds of casual talking between other demons, as well as strange low-pitched growls that intonated once in a while. There were many different strings of conversation occurring in different noises that weren’t just humane voices being created by vocal cords in a throat. If Jinsoul pulled herself away from the situation, then she would think that she was walking through a busy market with a lot of machinery running in the background. But being able to see all the varieties of creatures parading around with pieces of clothing as if they were human was sending her for a loop.

Her head was hurting from trying to process how something with what looked like a greyhound’s head attached to a humane-like body but with a bull’s lower body could exist.

Instead, she tried to keep her gaze down on the reddish sand she kicked beneath her bare feet as she tried to keep up with the fast pace that Jungeun and the seemingly kind enough demon were setting in front of her.

Jungeun had said that they were soulmates.

There were many connotations to that statement – a lot of different things that Jungeun could have meant with those words.

All of them made Jinsoul feel like she was falling off a precipice.

Jinsoul could count on one hand just how many times she really believed in the concept of soulmates. Once, when she had looked at Jungeun after the demon had put her own safety and pride on the line to keep her from Saerim’s hands. The second time, when she had fallen in love with Chanwoo and his young, rugged, lively nature that brought the inner child back out of her as easy as water flowed in a stream. The concept had quickly burned into cinders when her daughter died.

Now Jungeun was telling her that it was real. And that it applied to them. Exclusively.

This was another headache that Jinsoul couldn’t bare to handle. Instead of leaping to conclusions, she should wait until she could speak to Jungeun in private and ask her for more details on what exactly she meant by ‘soulmates’.

“You know, even though you’re pretty quiet, I kinda like you.” The demon spoke once more in Jungeun’s direction, and despite his profoundly deep voice and questionable appearance, Jinsoul felt something akin to tenderness at his attempts at conversation. (It almost made her feel bad for him, what with Jungeun’s silent treatment being a cool steel.) “You’re not like the other high-ranking demons. Kinda like- you don’t really care what I think but like, you seriously don’t and you’re not pretending like other demons who pretend not to care so that they can be cooler. You’re just, _cool_.”

The advantage of walking behind them was that Jinsoul didn’t have to hide her facial expressions, so she could react as she pleased to the conversation at hand. Another was also getting to see the way that Jungeun’s red tail swung in satisfaction at the quick assessment that her new demon friend had made of her.

Jinsoul held back a smile, looking away to keep the laugh behind pursed lips.

“So how’d you get it?” The demon ambled along beside Jungeun, the weight of his body forcing his shoulders to tilt every which way with each step. “The human soul, I mean.” Jinsoul tried not to get too offended to being referred to as an ‘it’. “I wanna be able to get one myself if Boss ever sends me down there.”

The hesitation couldn’t have been clearer. “A deal,” Jungeun ended up saying, trying not to disclose too much.

“Yeah, but what kinda deal? She looks young- maybe she was messing around with some other mortals and summoned you by accident – we’ve had a lot of those lately. Maybe someone else sold her soul off for her? Or I’m just going about it the wrong way and you spared the life of some loved one in exchange for her soul? Those cases are also common – more common than the accident ones, actually.”

All wrong.

Jinsoul had been alive longer than this demon had, judging from the way that it talked in a much less mature manner in comparison to Jaehyun and MJ had been, so the last thing she would have been doing was crowding around those Ouija boards to joke around with some friends. (Coincidentally, she’d heard of several cases of demons being given a gateway to enter into the lower plain via these ‘gameboards’.) Although her life had been treated as a parcel to pass around in the early stages of her life, now it would be unimaginable for someone to have that control over her to be able to sell her soul off. And the last one couldn’t be more wrong.

What _had_ happened, however, was that Jungeun had stolen her soul from another demon.

Jinsoul still remembered waking up to a piercing pain on her chest that she had thought had healed after she had made a deal with the demon that had promised her strength and power for the carnage that was to come. When she had looked down at her chest, the symbol that she found there was freshly engraved, the black magic sizzling from the indents it made in her chest (which were dug deeper than the original (Jungeun had always been possessive by nature)), looked nothing like the one that she had watched be cut into the skin by the demon she had personally summoned. Somehow, Jungeun had stolen her soul from the higher-ranking demon Jinsoul had negotiated a deal with and made it her own.

There was some residue resent from that situation, though it came from a place of having lacked the chance to get a say in the whole thing.

(She was fully aware of the fact that if Jungeun hadn’t done that, after Jinsoul had finished wiping out the entirety of the Olde her soul would have been dragged into the middle plain to be enslaved to the demon that already had her own collection of souls. And that the respect that she had earned by killing the Olde without demonic strength poisoning her veins during the act would have never been hers to grasp.

That didn’t change the fact that Jungeun was a soul thief.)

“So what was your location for your mission?” The demon continued his seemingly self-indulgent interview. “I’m not asking because I’m a brat, I seriously have to know because it’s protocol.”

Disgruntled, Jungeun’s tail coiled in on itself. Jinsoul continued to watch the new mannerisms with curiosity, having never seen Jungeun in this environment before and thoroughly enjoying what it was presenting her so far. It wasn’t like Jungeun hid her emotions when she was around Jinsoul – she actually used them as a weapon of her own just so that Jinsoul could see that she was genuine with everything that she did. But there were times where her gaze would be unreadable, and her expression would be too vague to be able to accurately depict what she was thinking. It seemed like the tail would be exposing most of these emotions that would usually be kept hidden under layers of defence mechanisms.

She gave a series of numbers that Jinsoul assumed were the precise location of where they had been. Jinsoul presumed that she hadn’t said the actual city name and country because demons didn’t seem particularly interested in what ‘pathetic mortals’ liked to call their places.

The demon nodded and formed something out of mid-air with black magic, which casually erupted from the palm of his hand like a flame sparking out of a lighter. The device looked suspiciously like a phone with the way that it proceeded to type away at the surface with one of his thick fingers. “Oh hey!” His steps became lighter and his three tails swung elatedly as if he were suddenly pleased with whatever discovery her had made. “You were at the same location where the whole ‘demon babies’ scandal went down!”

Jinsoul frowned. She had thought that demons weren’t able to procreate with any other species other than themselves.

But then again, she had thought the same for sanguisuges and yet she had ended up having a child.

‘Demon babies’ was a phrase that she didn’t think she ever wanted to unpack, the whole issue with the two different genetics mixing to produce something not fully human, and not fully demonic.

Still, Jinsoul’s curiosity had always spurred her on more than she would have liked. Her thoughts strayed to questions like: would they end up looking more like humans or like other demons that nonchalantly went about their lives around them? Their demon guide had said that it had occurred in the exact same place where they had been, which left her wondering whether or not those ‘demon babies’ were somehow inhabiting the same city as they had been in. And if they had, how long had it been since this scandal occurred for those babies not to be infants anymore.

“One of the higher-ranking demons had to go down there and clean _all_ of that mess up,” the demon chuckled heartily, continuing to busy himself with his device. Jungeun beside him had her shoulders so tense that Jinsoul thought they would snap under the pressure. “Pretty sure it messed him up real bad because he wouldn’t give us the details on how he ended up killing them, like- _that’s the best part!_ How could he not share?!”

Well, that satiated her curiosity.

Demons certainly didn’t feel emotions like mortals did. Jinsoul still remembered having to explain to Jungeun why she would sometimes feel the strange urge to pick up a small puppy from the street and hug it until it could no longer breath. It was no surprise to hear their guide talking about killing babies like it was a source of entertainment. Especially not when Jinsoul had heard much worse from some other sanguisuges.

Jinsoul didn’t realise that the atmosphere around her had changed until Jungeun had slowed down from her original pace to grip at her arm.

They had somehow made it across a long distance, and the previous crowd of demons that had surrounded them in heaps were now replaced by more humane looking people led by one or two demons. There was something about their appearances that managed to shake Jinsoul out of her stupor, more than the demon’s ambiguous appearances had. The pressure of having multiple eyes follow after her as they walked pass made her momentarily forget that they were in the middle plane doing something that would probably tip the balance of the world out of scale.

“Is that Jung Jinsol?”

That’s when the panic really set in.

Jungeun’s grip on her arm became tighter, her other hand coming up to pull the hood on her head lower over her face despite no one having seen her yet. She tugged her so that they would walk faster, and usually Jinsoul would have ripped her arm away and said that she could walk by herself, but there was something about someone saying her name so reverently that wanted to root her to her place.

Fear was the first thing that Jinsoul registered. Her heart clenching uncomfortably in her chest, adrenaline spiking unevenly, hands fisting closed to prepare for a fight.

In a surprisingly empathetic manner, Jungeun swiftly tucked her into her side and moved her arm around her shoulders.

Jinsoul felt the somewhat burning heat that was springing from Jungeun’s tense body almost physically brush against her bare shoulder. What she thought was Jungeun’s hand came to rest on the back of her head, ever so gently nudging her gaze down as more whispers of her name began to spill from the crowds.

“We need to get out of here,” Jungeun mumbled quietly enough for her to hear, but for it to go undetected by any other soul around them.

Keeping herself from jesting back a snarky response, Jinsoul instead resorted to clinging onto the side of the demon’s cloak.

Their guide continued to walk beside him undeterred, his strides now wider in order to keep in pace with Jungeun’s agitated speed walk. “Whoa, hey there, I think your human soul is quite popular with this old crowd.” He didn’t seem that suspicious over why it was that souls were whispering the name as if chanting an old prayer, more amused over the general attention that they were receiving. “You must have bagged yourself quite a powerful soul, huh?”

No reply was often the best reply.

Despite her eyes being glued to the red sand between her head and the quick steps being taken by Jungeun beside her, Jinsoul couldn’t help but feel an itch in the back of her mind that urged her to look up. Even the hand on the back of her head, with fingers splayed out to make sure that she kept her gaze downward, Jinsoul still gave into the small urge. So she tilted her chin sideways and cast her eyes to her periphery.

Jinsoul felt her blood run cold when her eyes landed on him. Her name was on his lips, with loathing on the curl of his mouth as he dug his glare onto her side. It wasn’t a face that ever came to mind when she thought about the purging of the Olde because it had been a face that she had looked into in passing while she had been on her culling. But when her eyes saw his features – stuck the same as they had been when she had mercilessly struck her dagger into his heart – it was inevitable for the memories to come rushing back into her mind. And her insides were wrought by something that although wasn’t regret, it made her want to curl further into Jungeun’s side the way that she had after everything had been done.

Noting where her attention had been diverted, Jungeun instinctively moved her hand down from the back of her hand to wrap around her eyes and act as a protective barrier. Her breath tucked into the shell of her ear when she leaned in. “Don’t look at them.”

Her whole world continued to sway, her anxiety only increasing the more she let her mind run.

When Saerim had warned her that she would eventually regret forcing the hand of extinction on the Olde, Jinsoul had scoffed at her words. But it was only now, as she walked through lines and lines of those that had died by her hand, that she begun to truly understand what she had meant by that.

It wasn’t until they had emerged the other side of whatever section of Inferno that was that Jungeun allowed her pace to begin to slow down again. Their demon guide kept gushing and gushing about the attention that they had received during their walk, and although it was a little stifling to hear muted against her ears Jinsoul was only grateful that he wasn’t pressing for more answers about the strange occasion.

Jinsoul needed to recalibrate.

She needed to take a breather – to sit down and really process what had just happened.

“We’ll be fine from here on,” Jungeun was saying to the demon, making sure to keep Jinsoul close but not close enough to give up their true relationship as equals. (Not close enough where Jinsoul could dig her face into her shoulder and let all of the emotions that had built up inside just tumble out.)

Their demon guide made a sound of what appeared to be disappointment. “Well, it was nice meeting you.” He gave a sigh, the impact of his breath hitting their skirts and fluttering them back. “Hopefully you come back around here, and we can have a less distracted talk.” Jinsoul didn’t have the heart to even think about cutting him off and saying that neither of them would ever return to see him again. “Or maybe Boss will finally send me down there and I get my own human! Obviously not as powerful as yours, it seems.”

His playful jest made Jungeun prickly, her tail snapping dangerously close to Jinsoul’s leg. “Thank you for services,” she said hastily, ducking her head slightly out of habit from the lower plane.

Chortling to himself, the demon began to amble back the way he came. “You are a strange one, nodding like the mortals…”

Both Jungeun and Jinsoul froze simultaneously at his observation. If he put two and two together here, then any hopes for them getting back down to the lower plane would be eradicated. Who knew what Jungeun’s punishment would be for trying to do something so dangerous?

“See you!” Their demon guide strode back down the way that they came, this time on his fours to gallop away faster.

Jinsoul felt like her legs would give out under her from the relief.

The scenery around them was scarcer of life, though still that Hellish bright red that seemed to get more and more uncomfortable to look at. Whereas Jinsoul had thought that the topography of the landscape had been incredibly plain, they were now on the bottom of what was the beginning of a slope that would take them up a rockier terrain. The sharp, jagged edges of the boulders were intimidatingly tall, and the sand that had tickled the bottom of her feet was now replaced by hard yet round land.

“It’ll be easier to hide away up here while we wait for the next Shift,” Jungeun explained under her breath, seemingly still not sure of herself to talk at a normal volume. Her hand moved away from her head as she took a step in the direction of the slope.

Driven by the adrenaline and fear that still gripped at her insides, Jinsoul chased after the only source of comfort and warmth she would get in this land. There was something about the realisation that they only had each other now that made everything seem so much simpler in her head. So wordlessly, she tried reaching out for the hand at Jungeun’s side but ultimately shied away when her attempt failed.

Jungeun immediately noticed her movement, her eyes darting to her trembling hand. Taking cue from her silence, she mutely touched the back of Jinsoul’s forearm and slid her fingertips down into the palm of her hand.

They didn’t have to say anything to each other as they squeezed their tightly clasped hands.

-

Strangely enough, Inferno resembled some of the places on Earth more than Jinsoul would have originally thought.

She had never really formulated any personal theories on what the afterlife would be like because she’d had Jungeun at her side to tell her exactly what the middle plane was like. That wasn’t to say she hadn’t read some of the theories others liked to place their faith in (due to her parents’ own belief in Christianity (though that religion had faced several issues during the seventeenth century)), and now that she was hiding in a strange sort of cavern with the red skies beginning to darken in an unsettlingly purple manner, she found herself wishing that reality were like those theories instead.

“It’s really ironic that a place called ‘Inferno’ can also get cold,” Jinsoul called out, trying to wrap her arms around herself as she rested against one of the boulders in the cavern. “It’s even more ironic that there’s night and day in a place like the afterlife.” She stared at the pieces of fabric that made up her skirt and cursed those two cheeky demons for deciding to dress her in something so impractical. “I would have though that after you died, nobody would really need to sleep or eat.”

Jungeun, who had been pacing around the generous space that the cavern provided for them to seek refuge in, let herself smile softly in amusement at her thoughts. “It is like that, but only for people who get to be in Elysium.”

Humming in recognition, Jinsoul decidedly gave up in trying to make the most of her dress and instead took to rubbing at her exposed shoulders for friction. “ _Elysium_ , like in ancient mythology.”

The demon stopped searching every crack and crevice for any other signs of life that wasn’t their own. “Ancient _Greek_ mythology,” her voice was light, and Jinsoul knew she was knowingly prodding at her for a reaction.

“You and your obsession with the Ancient Greeks.” Jinsoul scoffed playfully, faux annoyance in her expression as she watched Jungeun walk towards her. “You and I both know that they were just a generation of crazy, deluded men who liked to call having constant existential crises a ‘study’. Anybody could do what they did.”

Satisfaction rushed through Jinsoul as she watched Jungeun’s tail swing behind her in annoyance, the blank expression on her face not a strong enough guard now that she had that additional feature. “I never understood your dislike for philosophy. You know that science literally stemmed from philosophy itself, and many of your beloved mathematical formulas wouldn’t have even come into existence if it weren’t for some of the Greek philosophers.”

They had had this debate many times in the past. Originally, it would just be calm conversation when Jinsoul would catch Jungeun tucked away in the corner of their room reading whatever passages she could find. (Jungeun had been taught how to read by one of the other male Olde sanguisuges and had proceeded to pass on the skill to her in the safety of their own room. Whatever she had done to persuade him to teach her, Jinsoul hadn’t wanted to know.) Recently, it would be entwined with much more personal remarks and insults to make sure the other would become too riled up to even finish their argument.

Jinsoul let their bickering fade into the chill in the air. She regarded Jungeun as she settled herself beside her, lithely moving about to make herself more comfortable.

Soulmates was still a term that frightened her, yet it was oddly befitting of the feeling that she would get when she looked at Jungeun.

There had always been something that pulled the two of them together, even during the years of hatred, which Jinsoul could not fight or shake off. Like they were destined to be around one another – whether it was to be one another’s source of pain and suffering, or to be a place where they could find love and stability.

Evidently, Jinsoul had taken them down the former option. (Jungeun desperately wanted the latter.)

Jungeun broke her out of her trance as she tapped at her shoulder with the back of two of her fingers. When Jinsoul leaned forward, as she assumed the other woman wanted her to do, she felt something warm drape itself across her back that contrasted largely with the freezing temperatures of the boulder. Gently tugging her shoulder as a sign to lean back into her position, Jungeun shifted herself in place more to be more contented. Which meant that their sides pressed together firmly, but not imposingly.

The grey cloak draped around the both of them, acting as both a source of warmth in the chilly temperatures of the night and a soft surface that Jinsoul could finally rest her back against after days of sleeping on hard surfaces.

Subconsciously, Jinsoul found herself leaning into Jungeun, who was exuding heat like a radiator would. Jungeun flexed her muscles in a burst of surprise, though accommodated her easily.

There was that lingering fear in the back of Jinsoul’s mind that told her nothing good would come out of this. That whatever relationship – whether it be platonic or romantic – she tried to build with Jungeun would end up in more deception and suffering. It was a nagging pressure in the back of her head that wouldn’t let up even as she clenched her eyes shut and tried to let herself get lost in the feeling of Jungeun holding her like she was the most precious thing she had ever had the luxury to place her hands on.

Maybe she should focus on trying to find a way back to the lower plane and actually surviving the journey before she thought about more trivial matters.

“So, want to explain what exactly a Shift is and why we have to sleep in this cave because of it?” Jinsoul forced herself to shuffle away from Jungeun. She knew that if she stayed nestled up in her arms like she had been, all she would think about would be that they were soulmates, that Jungeun looked at her like she was the best thing to walk this existence, and that maybe giving a shot at a relationship wouldn’t be too bad.

Jungeun didn’t react to her distancing, though when Jinsoul felt something nudge her side and she looked down at the culprit, she found a restless red tail shifting between them.

Flustered, Jungeun quickly grabbed at her tail and maneuvered it so that it would be laying on her other side, out of reach of Jinsoul. “Sorry,” she muttered under her breath, barely moving her lips. Jinsoul didn’t bother hiding the affection in her gaze when she saw how her ears had flushed red. “Uh- The Shift, right.”

“Right.” Jinsoul teasingly drawled out, slightly leaning into Jungeun’s space and watching at her tail for a reaction. Sure enough, it twitched at Jungeun’s side and then whipped outwards to wrap around the demon’s thigh lightly.

“Ignore it.” Growling in frustration, Jungeun pried the tail from her leg and instead held it with one of her hands so that it wouldn’t continue to expose how she really felt. “The Shift is kind of like an elevator setting that the middle plane has.” she urgently powered on with her explanation, trying to get Jinsoul’s attention off of other matters. “The middle plane is so big, but there’s no way for demons to travel around like there is back on Earth. You know, like cars or planes… the best thing that they have is spirit chariots like what MJ took us on.”

Jinsoul nodded, leaning back against the boulder and staring at the entrance of the cave. The skies were positively purple, though hints of red curled and wrapped around like ink in water.

“I don’t really remember a time where The Shift didn’t exist, but Boss talked a lot about how inconvenient it was even for her to travel around the middle plane without it. Literally, she would not stop talking and talking whenever someone brought it up – MJ, Jaehyun and I even made a vow to never talk about The Shift around her so she wouldn’t bore us to death.” Jungeun spoke with sentimentality, hints of a smile almost surfacing on her lips as she reminisced in the past. “She said that the difference in how the higher plane’s time frame worked compared to the middle and lower plane had a big part to play in it. Something about pulling the strings of existence so that different locations would attach to different parts of the higher plane, so whenever time passed up there, there would be a shift in location here in the middle plane.”

“Sounds like a pretty powerful being to be able to pull the strings of existence,” Jinsoul observed, shivering at the thought of something so complex taking place in everyday life. The realisation that there were a lot of things greater than them at play had always been so diminishing and belittling.

Laughing softly, Jungeun threw her a glance out of her periphery. “I know right? You would expect someone with that power to be a little more… put-together.”

Smiling quietly, Jinsoul observed the traces of happiness that bloomed on Jungeun’s face when she spoke about her memories. “It sounds like you know this ‘Boss’ pretty well,” she said, cautious of the way Jungeun would take her words, “are all demons on personal terms with her, or did you guys just get special treatment?”

When Jungeun’s smile waned, mild alarm sprung out within Jinsoul. She hadn’t meant to kill the mood. “Well… we always liked to be assholes about it, but I guess we always knew that Boss liked us a little differently to how she liked the others.” Her voice was soft, and although there was a hint of melancholy that made her intonation droop in the slightest of manners, Jinsoul could still hear indications of mirth. “We were really young back then – not to mention brats who liked to mess around with her as much as possible. I guess that made her see us as her friends? Equals, in a way, which is wild considering that Boss is a deity.”

Eyebrows springing up, Jinsoul turned to face Jungeun. “A deity? Like Gowon and Olivia?”

Jungeun paused, hesitating. “In a way… it’s strange to think about, considering that those other two are currently in the bodies of two eighteen-year-old girls but… I think so.”

“And... you call her ‘Boss’ because she’s in charge of the middle plane?” Amazement coloured her tone, unable to keep the burning curiosity from arising more questions within her mind. “Which is Hell, by the way- which means that your Boss is technically The Devil – Satan, in a way.”

The demon scrunched her face up in displeasure, gently bumping their shoulders together. “I’ve never really liked the human interpretation of Satan, but now that you say it, I guess all of the talk about Satan and The Devil really does apply to Boss.” A strange sort of realisation dawned on Jungeun’s face, and Jinsoul couldn’t keep the laughter from bursting out during it. “Oh god, if they met her, they would know how wrong they were to show her as a goat man.”

Jinsoul continued to laugh, very aware of how humans liked to talk about Satan. “Hey, at least she has a small fanclub for those that worship Satanism – I think some people think of Satan as a sexy, muscly guy that will fulfil all of their sexual fantasies.”

“They’re not wrong about the sexual fantasies part, but I don’t think Boss has ever really cared about having muscles or being a mortal man,” Jungeun quipped, the corners of her lips liftin gup in amusement.

Something shifted inside of Jinsoul. “Hm, and what would you know about The Devil and her ability to fulfil sexual fantasies?”

Jungeun opened her mouth to deliver her answer, but as soon as she noticed the traces of bitterness that had deviously creeped into Jinsoul’s words, she snapped her jaw shut. With wide, guilty eyes, the demon turned to look at Jinsoul. And that was all that the latter needed to confirm her suspicions on the relation between the two.

Clearing her throat, Jinsoul turned to look elsewhere. The dark purple horizon had become abruptly more interesting than the conversation they were having. “It’s fine, it’s not like we even knew each other at the time.”

It wasn’t like Jinsoul even had the right to experience something akin to jealousy when she was the last person who was even considering a relationship between the two of them. Or did she? Because this small interaction between the two of them was surprisingly natural and easy, conversation flowing like they hadn’t spend years feuding and fighting one another. (Even though there were times when Jinsoul’s resolve had admittedly weakened and heated arguments devolved into hate sex, but those were events Jinsoul preferred to forget about.) Maybe it could work out between the two of them. Maybe this jealousy was her subconscious telling her to make it so that all fulfilment of sexual fantasies was exclusive to the two of them.

During this internalised breakdown, Jungeun had taken to sorting through her own flurry of thoughts, it seemed. “I feel nothing for her, nothing like how I feel for you- actually, it was never really about emotions to begin with, just natural demon interaction with one another. Besides, it wasn’t like MJ and Jaehyun didn’t have their own fun…”

The demon trailed off when she saw the withering stare being directed at her.

Jungeun’s features flinched into a grimace, her shoulders dropping in resignation as Jinsoul tried to pull herself together.

Sighing, Jinsoul rubbed at her the space above her eyebrows, trying to get rid of the tension that had built there.

Communication. Right.

It was an incredibly cliché term to think about when thinking about the foundations of a relationship (any relationship, including platonic ones) but there was a reason why it was so overused.

“You said- we…” Feeling the onslaught of thoughts that wanted to rush out and spill themselves all over Jungeun’s still numbed mind, Jinsoul bit at her tongue and tried taking a breath. She wasn’t going to go into a conversation this sensitive a stuttering mess. “Earlier, when we were still in the grasslands you said…”

The silence finished her sentence, and Jinsoul was immensely grateful that she didn’t have to verbalise the dreaded words.

Jungeun’s face flashed with recognition but immediately dimmed when she saw the conflicted expression on Jinsoul’s face.

“That we’re soulmates.” The way Jungeun deadpanned it made guilt rise up inside of her.

“Right…” Jinsoul felt her mouth go dry, as if her body was telling her to stop talking about this. But they had to talk about it. It was too important to just push to the back of her mind as if the topic wouldn’t chase her into her dreams. “It’s not that I hate it, but I’m not really ecstatic to find out something this weighty after I died.”

Understanding matured on Jungeun’s face. Quickly straightening her posture so that she could turn to face her more clearly, Jungeun stretched her hands out to hover over Jinsoul’s knees. “This isn’t something that I’ve been keeping from you – trust me, I wouldn’t hide something like this even if you still hated my guts.” Relief and confusion both ran through Jinsoul’s mind, but she kept quiet. “It’s only recent. It happened when you died in the research compound.”

At the mention of her death, Jinsoul froze.

She could still feel the strange serenity that had taken over her as Chanwoo had breathed his last words, finally having his chance to rest in peace. It had been so overwhelming that the sharp pain in her stomach hadn’t even registered until hands were pulling her from her ex-lover’s dead body.

And then the last thing she had seen was Jungeun’s face and the faint burn of her soul mark on her chest.

“I could feel you moving away from the lower plane because I was being pulled back with you,” Jungeun admitted, her eyes unfocused even as Jinsoul searched them for sincerity. “I remembered reading something obscure a long, long time ago about beings that used to be built for one another so their souls would be connected by a piece of string. It may have been an old poem, or song, but in the heat of the moment I guess I scattered my existence and created a soul tie between us so that you wouldn’t be left alone in the middle plane once you returned, because for the deal that crafted our soul marks I specified that you would not be enslaved to me in the afterlife.”

Jinsoul huffed out a breath of disbelief. “So you _made_ us soulmates.”

Jungeun scrunched her face up. “Soulmates aren’t really a thing, but soul ties are.”

“So what does that mean?” Jinsoul could feel her walls pulling up. The voice in her head putting thoughts into her mind that told her Jungeun had taken her control away. Had betrayed her again. “We’re bound together for eternity?”

“It was the only thing I could think of at the time,” Jungeun gushed, placing her hands down her knees as if to keep her there. “You were dyi- you were _dead_.”

“And you thought that it was up to you to keep me alive?” Jinsoul snarled, pushing the hands away from her legs. “That it was your duty to do me this great deed? Did you even think about what I wanted?!”

Confusion warped Jungeun’s face, her eyebrows pulling together in bewilderment at her reaction. “Jinsol, you would have died.”

“And is that such a bad thing?!”

The air was cold and dry, capturing the sweltering tension between them perfectly as if putting up a barrier between them. Jinsoul could almost feel the way that it choked around her neck like a noose tightening with her every breath.

“I don’t need you making decisions for what you think is the ‘right thing’ for me, Jungeun.” Jinsoul tried to keep herself from raising her voice, the rational part in her beginning to reign in the onslaught of emotions raging on like a tempest inside of her. “I’m not just- an object that you can decide to keep because you haven’t had enough time playing with it.”

She knew that wasn’t what Jungeun was trying to do when she tied their souls together, but did it matter when that’s how her actions made her feel? Reduced to the very thing that Jinsoul didn’t want to be.

Her possession rather than her equal.

It appeared to be as if Jungeun was stunned. Her eyes owlishly blinked at her, and her lips were in a thin line as if she didn’t know what to say.

Jinsoul was slightly surprised that she hadn’t lashed out at her as she would normally have done in the past, forcefully trying to get Jinsoul to see her point of view or annoyed by Jinsoul’s admittedly carless, sharp words. Though she thought that it had something to do with the way the demon had her hands clenched firmly into fists in her lap, her thumbs running along the edges of her fingernails.

The silence between them stretched out further.

It was enough for Jinsoul to begin to calm down.

The first thing that she realised was that her hands were trembling. The second was that she had been afraid. In an all-consuming kind of way that revved up her survival instincts.

Her outburst had been one fuelled by fear.

Fear at the thought that something like this had been taken out of her hands so easily and she hadn’t had a chance to have a say in it. Fear at the thought of being tied to an entire being for the rest of time, forever destined to them in a way that was restrictive of her prior freedom to choose for herself. Even the fear that she felt about this entire situation of having to walk through Hell with only their wits and luck to aid them had had a part to play in her outburst, and she realised that this was all just a culmination of her emotions over the past thirty or so days.

And although she had a right to be angry that a decision like this one had been taken from her hands, she still shouldn’t have raised her voice like she had.

“I’m-“ Jinsoul physically couldn’t push the word out, melting on the tip of her tongue. Running a hand down her face in frustration, she tried doing a quick breathing exercise. “I shouldn’t have shouted at you… or let my emotions get the best of me.”

Her gaze fixated itself on Jungeun’s clenched fists, a symbol of self-control.

“But… by you tying our souls together, it made me feel like I didn’t have a say in our relationship.” Jinsoul tried not to linger too long on her choice of wording. “Death wasn’t something that scared me- I was fully prepared to die during that time, and I had come to terms with it. But it felt like you had taken the food away from me when I was starving, and you’re so proud of it…”

A shaky breath. Jungeun unclenched her fists in her lap, flexing her fingers out in front of her. Jinsoul could see the indents of where her nails had been digging into her flesh.

“I understand why you feel like that, and I’m sorry that I didn’t take your feelings into consideration,” Jungeun said, the way that her voice was wavering a tell-tale sign that she was close to tears. “But I can’t say that I’m sorry for doing what I did.”

A conflict of emotions washed inside of Jinsoul.

“Forget about my own feelings and motivations for doing what I did- don’t you think that it’s a little irresponsible to be wishing so dearly for death to take you when you still have Hyunjin to take care of? You chose to turn her – you chose your actions and made her into a sanguisuge when it hadn’t really been necessary. She could have continued to live her life as a human being- probably marry that human girl of hers eventually.”

Jinsoul flinched. She didn’t want to admit it, but it wasn’t like Jungeun was wrong in what she was saying.

“I’m not saying that you don’t have a right to want death so badly – especially not after everything that you have been through,” Jungeun’s cold expression melted into one of clearer understanding. “But there are many things on Earth that you have left unattended – unfinished – because you wish to rest peacefully and leave the others to deal with those issues.”

“It’s not my responsibility to solve everyone’s issues,” Jinsoul rebutted, though this was coming from a more logical place rather than emotional.

Jungeun’s face darkened, her eyes lowering to the small space between them. “You’re right, it’s not.”

Jinsoul observed her demeanour carefully. It was as if the demon had purposefully left her body language open in an attempt to make her subconsciously more welcome to share her thoughts. Despite the inner struggle that was going on in her head, she still thought of what would be best for Jinsoul in this discussion and consciously tried to complete with what would be required to do so. Even her hands had unfurled to squeeze at her knees instead of curling them aggressively.

“I’m not going to tell you what to think, either,” Jungeun said calmly, having regained her composure. “But I think you know where you really stand in all of this.” Her posture slouched, as if having lost the will to continue fighting. “You know what kind of person you are.”

Jinsoul was amazed at Jungeun’s behaviour.

She had never seen her back down from Jinsoul’s attempts at riling her up or slips of the tongue that genuinely hadn’t meant to hurt her. It was as if she were talking to an entirely different version of Jungeun.

Deciding to swallow her pride, Jinsoul tentatively reached out to brush her fingertips along the back of Jungeun’s hands. The response was immediate: the tension left her fingers and her hands were instead slowly rotating so Jinsoul could rest her hands in her palms. Every part of Jungeun was attuned to Jinsoul whether the demon herself was aware of it or not, and it continued to fan at whatever it was that was making Jinsoul’s heart warm comfortably in her chest. (The part of Jinsoul that was slightly more obsessed with modern media was cheering with elation inside of her, likening their conversation to one of a functioning couple in the movies. The more cynical part of her immediately put forth evidence of why they weren’t ever going to be ‘functioning’.)

“You’re right,” Jinsoul admitted, trying to convey her apology through these words instead. “Still, I need to wrap my head around the concept, it’s a little…”

Jungeun nodded eagerly, expelling a nervous laugh. “I get it, yeah.”

The palms of her hands were sweaty, and Jinsoul thought that perhaps she hadn’t been the only one struggling so much with trying to articulate her thoughts clearly.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Jinsoul leaned into where Jungeun had bowed her head and playfully nudged their foreheads together. “But you need to stop almost killing yourself so you can save me, okay?” When Jungeun leaned into her, timidly chasing the contact as if she needed it to survive, Jinsoul felt her smile settle more comfortably on her lips. “I don’t think ‘scattering your existence’ should be something you should do so lightly.”

Jungeun huffed a laugh through her nose, affectionately pressing forward to tilt Jinsoul’s head back. “I would do it a million times over.”

Rolling her eyes, Jinsoul tried to ignore that feeling of warmth in her heart swelling considerably. “Aren’t you romantic,” she teased instead, leaning away to light-heartedly raise an eyebrow at her. “To think that you were once emotionally constipated.”

With a grin on her face, Jungeun pulled at Jinsoul’s hands so that she would lean into her. “Shut up,” she said though a laugh, happiness radiating from the sound.

Jinsoul, for the first time, felt the fear inside of her mind begin to quell.

Walking through Hell with her lover. She thought that she had read an Ancient Greek myth like that.

xxxxxxxxxx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter i struggled a lot with (i did all kinds of things to power through the writer's block and try to give a more genuine outlook on *shivers* feelings) but i'm glad that i managed to finish it at all. i hope this chapter turned out okay, though please understand if it's not up to standard, quarantine is kicking my ass
> 
> (big thanks to my oomf on twitter for putting up with my crap while i was writing this ily)
> 
> thank you for reading


	6. six

_“Text her back.”_

Hyejoo scrunched her nose up, still quietly staring at the dim screen of her phone with a mixture of surprise and distaste.

_“Hyejoo, text her back.”_

Ignoring the voice in her head in favour of pressing down on the power button, Hyejoo tried focussing on something _other_ than the text from the purposefully unsaved number. She was still a little surprised that the girl had mustered up what little courage she had and sent her a message.

_“Text her, text her, text her, text her-“_

Growling in frustration, Hyejoo whipped the phone back out from her hoodie. Olivia was incredibly infuriating whenever she wanted to be. Seeing as their standstills of stubbornness had caused Hyejoo to pass out due to air deprivation once or twice before, the latter was not willing to risk such event happening in the middle of a mall of all places.

(The deity would often use the handicap Hyejoo had created for her to get back at the mortal, attempting to gain control so that the choker around her neck would squeeze and cut her airway. Obviously Hyejoo was not going to back down from such challenge – especially not when it meant doing what Olivia wanted from her. Which more often than not was something stupid like texting some random person back and made her look like a weakling.

“ _Wow, you’re so edgy.”_

“Shut up, Olivia.”)

“Are you okay?” A tentative voice asked her, and Hyejoo abruptly remembered that she was currently around other people, meaning they could witness all of her internal bickering with her other part.

And it just had to be Hwang Yeji of all people, too.

Mentally cursing Olivia with all possible forms of rude words she knew, Hyejoo hesitantly met her concerned gaze and nodded. “Yeah, just gotta text someone back,” she managed to reluctantly push out through gritted teeth, still bitter at having actually given into Olivia’s pestering. “Sorry, is cool if I step aside for a sec?”

Yeji nodded back with an amicable smile on her face. Not too big, but also not too small. Just enough so that the person receiving the smile would feel like everything in the world was right. “Of course,” her voice was held the correct amount of kindness, so that it wasn’t excessively sweet and annoying like the way some other people would do. “We’re still waiting on Yeojin and Yuna to come back from the restroom anyway.”

Hyejoo gave an awkward nod and drifted away from the group.

_“What was that?”_

Looking down at her phone again, Hyejoo tried to gather her thoughts up together before they could become much more scrambled.

Yeji was a very popular student when she had attended school. Everyone knew who she was. Everyone wanted to approach and befriend her. Everyone was in love with her. Somehow, she ended up befriending one of the only people at school who didn’t care at all for her existence (Ryujin) through a complicated encounter that involved far too many abandoned buildings, Ouija boards, and holy water.

When Yuna had tried to explain it through an excited rant that involved more hand gestures than it did coherent sentences, Hyejoo had honestly blanked out and started thinking about whether she could steal someone’s lunch without them knowing that day. When Ryujin noticed that they had both spaced out, she was kind enough to give her the brief rundown: “I exorcised her boyfriend and she was grateful.”

One thing led to another, and the popular Hwang Yeji had joined the Shin’s strange, rag-tag coven (otherwise seen as the resident gang that trumped any other school bullies simply because of rumours that built them to look scarier than they were). She had even been very eager at the prospect of enchanting Hyejoo’s choker for her when Hyejoo had gone to get it updated. Though her talents with school and sport didn’t seem to translate well into witchcraft, and in the end Ryujin had taken over and done it for her like always.

However, maybe it was the thought that counted. Seeing the older girl do her best to attempt to fit in with the Shin’s – with Yuna’s wild personality and Ryujin’s no-bullshit attitude – was somewhat amusing to watch from afar. Hwang Yeji was the prettiest girl at school. She was adored by everyone she met and even the lunch ladies softened and cooed at the girl. (Those women were absolutely brutal.) Her hanging out with Shin Ryujin – who was rumoured to have killed a man on a night out to the clubs – and Shin Yuna – who dressed like a stereotypical school bully and had a brash attitude – had been a culture shock to the entire school.

Nonetheless, the older girl’s sweet personality remained even as her interests traversed to witchcraft and black magic. Hyejoo hadn’t been able to withhold the laughter when Ryujin had told her that the older girl had gone to the lengths of getting a piercing over the weekend so she could be more like Ryujin and had ended up crying so hard from the anxiety she had fainted in the chair.

(Apparently Yeji wasn’t very good with needles, Yuna said.)

_“Is this a crush?”_

Hyejoo growled irritably, wishing that she had a way to physically punch Olivia in the face. Thinking of threatening thoughts – saying that she wouldn’t text Chaewon and instead throw her phone onto the mall’s ground floor – Hyejoo instead focussed on the matter at hand.

 **[13:24]** **+82 XX XXXX XXXX: Hello, I’m sorry to bother you but Jo Haseul-unnie is very concerned about Yeojin’s whereabouts. She can’t reach her and says that her phone is turned off. Would you happen to know where she could be?**

Expression dissolving into a hard, cold grimace, Hyejoo huffed a frustrated breath and looked up at the glass ceiling of the mall.

She could feel the other host’s awkwardness glaring right at her through her phone screen and even if they were nowhere near each other, it was making her very antsy.

Whenever this kind of feeling overcame her, Hyejoo just wanted to punch the nearest thing possible. It wasn’t often that she allowed things like awkwardness and hesitation affect her – they were unnecessary parts of social interaction that could easily be avoided if people just removed their emotions from the situations and said things as they were. There was no point in beating around the bush. Saying things bluntly was the best way to deliver information.

Chaewon’s entire existence was the complete antonym of that belief.

Whenever they were around each other, the girl would be so tense and would always shy away from her even if Hyejoo was standing a good arm’s length away.

It wasn’t like Hyejoo enjoyed contact with people. She wasn’t trying to reach out and smother her in a hug. God, that was the last thing she wanted. But Chaewon behaved like Hyejoo was a ticking time bomb that could detonate at any moment, and in effect it made Hyejoo feel like she should do just that and explode all of her frustrations and anger on the girl.

Hyejoo may be extremely anti-social and detest human interaction, but she wasn’t a monster. She wouldn’t intentionally make the smaller girl withstand her harsh vocabulary and blunt commentary that had made people cry in the past. ( _“Too late, you already did that.”_ ) But Chaewon just made it _so easy_ to want to snap and her everything that she made her feel. In a sense where Hyejoo just wanted Chaewon to stop acting like she was some sort of traumatised child and actually start acting her age.

The more she stewed over it, the more Hyejoo wanted to transport to wherever it was the blonde spent her time and berate her in person.

_“As much as I would love to see Gowon, I am not taking you to her just so you can make her cry again. Now text her.”_

Hyejoo grunted in response to Olivia’s relentless urging and hovered her thumbs over the screen. This was the first time that the two of them had ever texted. She would have wondered where exactly the host had gotten her number from, but then she remembered that Yeojin had gone ahead and befriended the small blonde without consulting her.

_“Why are you so nervous? Didn’t you say you didn’t think anything of her?”_

“Shut up.” Hyejoo couldn’t help but say it at a normal volume. An old man who happened to be walking past in that moment sent her a strange glance. She scrunched her nose up and mumbled a small apology, pretending to point to her phone as if she were on a call. When she was sure that he had distanced himself enough and had stopped looking over his shoulder suspiciously at her, Hyejoo turned back to her phone. “You’re so annoying.”

There was no response from Olivia that time. Hyejoo rolled her eyes, letting her thumbs fly over her screen.

**[13:50] Son Hyejoo: ye**

Satisfied with her response, Hyejoo began to pocket her phone again. She could feel Olivia starting to get annoyed at her, the pressure of her choker around her neck increasing steadily, when her phone vibrated again.

 **[13:50]** **+82 XX XXXX XXXX: oh**

**Her eyebrows shot up. That had been a fast response.**

**[13:51] +82 XX XXXX XXXX: Could you tell me where she is so that I can relay the message to Haseul-unnie?**

**[13:52] Son Hyejoo: no**

That was a sufficient response. She hadn’t even noticed she was smirking at her phone until there was a sharp tug on the back of her neck pulling her out of her stupor.

 _“Don’t be mean to her,”_ Olivia was saying, frustration clearly evident in her voice in a way that Hyejoo could almost see the borderline pout on her lips. _“Just tell her that Yeojin is safe with us, that’s the least you could do. For Haseul.”_

Hyejoo was about to become even more exasperated at how high maintenance the deity was when her phone vibrated once more. Briefly she wondered if Chaewon had been waiting for her response this entire time or if she just happened to be a fast texter in general. After all, most of the times that they were around each other the blonde distracted herself with her phone instead of attempting a futile conversation.

**[13:53]** **+82 XX XXXX XXXX: please Hyejoo**

**[13:54] +82 XX XXXX XXXX: ik that we’re not on the best of terms but Haseul-unnie is very worried**

**Frowning at the messages, Hyejoo simply stared at her screen.**

**This was the most direct that she’d ever seen Chaewon be in the three months that they’d known each other, and it was sending her for a loop.**

**Chaewon wasn’t ever vocal with her thoughts or feelings, but that didn’t mean that Hyejoo couldn’t read exactly what they were. Even if the smaller girl was displeased with the way that Hyejoo carried out her kills when they were hunting hellhounds, she would not say anything and instead keep it to herself. And it annoyed Hyejoo, because if the blonde was going to make it that obvious then she may as well just voice her inner thoughts and opinions. Better than attempting to mask it behind false sheepishness and shyness that no one had the time for.**

**Except it seemed that it was different over text.**

**[13:56] +82 XX XXXX XXXX: ….please?**

**Setting her jaw, Hyejoo typed back.**

**[13:56] Son Hyejoo: she’s fine**

**[13:56] Son Hyejoo: we’re hanging out at a mall**

**[13:56] Son Hyejoo: dw babe**

**Hyejoo widened her eyes at her last text.**

**She hadn’t known what she had been thinking when she typed that out. Her mind had been so busy with thinking about how strange it was that Chaewon behaved differently over text than in person, that she must have accidentally allowed Olivia to slip through her defences and type that out for her. _(“I did no such thing!”)_ That must be it, Olivia always tried doing the stupidest things whenever the other host was involved. Always so desperate to try to get closer.**

**[15:58]** **+82 XX XXXX XXXX: thanks.**

**Hyejoo blinked at the screen.**

**That was… not the response she had been expecting.**

**She was expecting a bigger reaction – like the one she had given last time, where she had actually gotten angry at her and shown her emotions for once instead of hiding behind whatever cover was nearest. Maybe even getting flustered and typing some incoherent response back.**

**Anything but the dry text that had underlying tones of animosity.**

**_“You seem disappointed.”_ **

**Hyejoo scoffed, pocketing her phone again and willing any thoughts of the blonde to disappear from her mind. She wasn’t disappointed.**

**There was a sinking feeling in her chest, similar to a failed pastry deflating when it was taken out of the oven.**

**Fine, she was a little disappointed, but that was only because Chaewon’s reaction when she had gotten mad last time had been so amusing for some reason. She resembled a small little dog that was barking up a storm, but when actually facing the larger dog up close all she could do was whimper and cower with her tail between her legs. It was a little empowering and a surprisingly fun source of entertainment.**

**_“You think she is beautiful.”_ **

**“No, I don’t.” Hyejoo scowled, pinching her own arm before realising that Olivia wouldn’t be able to feel that and all she had done was hurt herself. “You’re just self-projecting. Hard.” It was at times like this where Hyejoo deeply wished that Olivia could manifest her own body into the lower plane so that she would be able to reach out and punch her like she so dearly wanted to right that moment.**

**Once more ignoring Olivia’s completely irrational commentary, Hyejoo ambled her way back to the group.**

**An older girl named Lia had suggested that they go to the food courts so that Yuna would stop complaining about how hungry she was (Ryujin had told her little sister that she could suffer for her own actions, seeing as the younger girl had been the one to wake up too late to have breakfast), and everyone else had agreed to it. Hyejoo had been a little reluctant, seeing as Yeojin had already spoken to the Shin’s about her proposal and had both agreed to go back to their apartment so that they could catch their older sister before she left for her internship later in the night. From Hyejoo’s perspective, business there was done.**

**She just wanted to go back to her own apartment and proceed with her half-formed plans from earlier. She’d had enough interaction with humans for today and needed to coop up in her room until Hyunjin eventually texted her about some hellhounds they needed to kill. (The vampire had a very dry way of texting her that resonated with her soul, so she found herself eventually looking forward to the short, snappy messages.)**

**Of course, Yeojin immediately agreed and had eagerly bounced along to the food court with Yuna by her side before she could say anything.**

**Considering that this Lia girl was willing to pay for all of them, Hyejoo tried to convince herself that it wasn’t too bad. It would certainly beat the cheap packets of jajjangmyun back at home.**

**As she approached the group, she noticed that there was a newcomer talking very passionately to Yeji and Chaeryeong, her hands clasping firmly onto the former’s hands. Hyejoo squinted her eyes a little, trying to see who it was over Ryujin’s shoulder. There was something about the wide movements and the loud, gushing voice that was familiar…**

**_“It’s that Cherry girl!”_ **

**Hyejoo’s first thought across her head was ‘who?’ before she came to a stop beside a wary Ryujin, who was simply observing the girl in front of them. Sure enough, the girl currently holding onto both of Yeji’s hands between her own very starkly resembled the same vampire that often walked around the Kim estate, and from time to time would drop by to exchange some words with Chaewon asking her if she was doing alright and if she needed anything. (Olivia had been very curious about their relationship and had been urging her to ask Chaewon what their connection was, but Hyejoo had stubbornly walked away before the deity could try any of her tricks.)**

**“…don’t know what I would have done without your help, honestly.” The vampire was spouting, her eyes round and wide with gratitude as she stared imploringly at a sheepish Yeji. “Thank you so much – is there anything I can do to pay back the favour, anything at all?”**

**The older girl let out a shy laugh that brightened up her entire face, delicately taking one of her hands from the vampire’s grip and waving it dismissively in front of her. “No, it’s fine, I’m just glad that your friend over there is okay now.” As much as Yeji was trying to hide it, she was evidently preening under the attention that the vampire was willingly giving her, and Chaeryeong beside her was having none of it.**

**“It’s not even your EpiPen…” Chaeryoung grumbled, nudging at Yeji’s side with her elbow.**

**Ryujin snorted in amusement beside Hyejoo, and the latter spared her a glance to see that Chaeryeong’s jealousy was entertaining her.**

**At the sound, the familiar vampire turned her head to look at them. When her eyes met Hyejoo’s, they flashed bright with recognition that she could barely keep off of her face. “Oh,” was the first thing to come from her mouth as she gently released Yeji’s hands, and she quickly angled her posture, facing her more clearly. “Hyejoo-ssi, you know them?”**

**Slightly surprised that the vampire knew her name _(“Of course she does, you’ve known her for three months and you haven’t even bothered remembering hers.”)_ Hyejoo just blinked back at her. When it seemed like all eyes of the group were on her, she uncomfortably shifted in her place and glanced away from the intense gaze boring into her. It was as if the vampire was trying to read her mind, and even if she hadn’t read anything about that kind of power, she was not willing to risk another person into her personal thoughts. ** ** So she responded with a muted hum instead. **

“So, Yerim-ssi,” Ryujin beside her spoke up. Her voice was as neutral as always, though Hyejoo recognized the slight knowing tone that the girl always spoke with whenever she thought she had the upper hand. “How long have you been a sanguisuge for, and care to tell us why your friend needed an EpiPen so bad?”

Hyejoo’s instincts prickled when she saw the vampire’s – Yerim’s – reaction.

As if a curtain fell over her face, her entire surprised and innocent expression was replaced with something dark. Her eyes clouded with a sort of voracious haze that chilled the skin along Hyejoo’s arms, and her reflexes had Hyejoo immediately flexing her fingers in preparation for a fight. The purple flash of color aimed right at Ryujin really tipped the scales, and the rest of the girls in the group either gasped or reached for their respective talisman. It was as if they were staring at someone else standing right in front of them, and Hyejoo had to give props to the girl who had just seconds ago appeared like any other girl spending her time out at the mall with her group of friends.

“I would ask if it’s demon, but judging how you seem to be travelling in a group, I’m going to have to settle with witch.” Yerim glanced around the group of girls very quickly, eyes barely resting on each of them before they returned to Ryujin. “They must be your coven.”

Interest piqued, Hyejoo discretely glanced at Ryujin. There was a soft smile of amusement playing on her face, though there was something plastic about the way it didn’t fully reach her eyes.

“Keen sense of smell,” Ryujin observed, remaining immobile. Hyejoo saw Yerim’s eyes quickly scanning the witch’s body as if searching for something. “You must be familiar with black magic, then.”

Yerim made a sound in the back of her throat, very carefully shrugging her shoulders. “I’ve been around it, yes.” Her voice was hard and cold – a surprising one-eighty from how bright and expressive it had been when she had been speaking to Yeji, who now, despite her lack of knack for witchcraft still stood as confident as she could. “I mean no harm. I’m just minding my own business; my friend genuinely needed the EpiPen and I am genuinely grateful to your member.”

Ryujin’s expression didn’t falter.

Hyejoo knew that Yerim wasn’t harmful. She’d seen her in her pajamas messing around with Yeojin when Hyejoo had stayed late at the estate after a long day chasing hellhounds. She’d seen the way that she handled the smaller girl with utmost care, very mindful of her strength when she pushed her off the couch or picked her up to throw her onto the cushions on the floor. If anything, Hyejoo thought that out of all the vampires she had met so far, Yerim was the least likely to murder a person.

She had also known Ryujin for a couple of years now, and even though the girl liked to sometimes play into the image that the school had given her, Hyejoo had still witnessed her choking on a mouthful of cheeseballs from when Yuna had convinced her to see how many fit in her mouth.

All in all, Hyejoo found this situation hilarious more than anything.

A choking sound was heard from behind where Lia and Yeji were standing, followed by that familiar loud voice yelling, “Yerim?!”

Simultaneously, everyone turned to look at the arrival of Yeojin and Yuna. The latter dwarfed Yeojin in size, looking like the older one of the two with the dark outfit she had decided to wear that day and decorated with all those piercings. Yeojin, on the other hand, still had her small, sequined backpack on her back that made her look like a toddler that had just wandered out of preschool and had spotted her parents.

Or in this case, her vampire friend.

“Yeojin, you-“ Yerim cut herself off as she registered the small girl, her demeanor reverting back to that bright, childish girl as if someone had flipped a switch. Her eyes widened almost comically, mouth falling open to complete the whole cliché ‘surprised’ expression as she scanned the group again. Then realization settled in, and there was a long, drawn out ‘ah’ like she had just understood what was going on. “This is who you were talking about when you said you could get a lawyer?” She sounded slightly agitated, as if she didn’t particularly like the idea. “Witches?”

Yeojin blinked slowly. Then, a guilty grin began to grow on her face, and she was instinctively taking steps away from the group. “Ha… yeah, uh…”

When the small girl started running from the group, Yerim already seemed prepared for the reaction. She let out a small huff of what Hyejoo could only describe as annoyance before she was gently pushing Lia and Yeji apart so she could break through them.

The vampire moved swiftly at first – too quick for a human for just a second – but she contained herself and sprinted at a considerable speed. Easily catching up to Yeojin, she swooped her arms around her and slightly hoisted herself up from the ground so she couldn’t struggle against her, the movements too swift and fluid to not be a rehearsed motion. And of course, ever the expressive person Yeojin let out a squeal of fear and surprise, catching the attention of passerby’s that were minding their own business.

Hyejoo felt a shot of irritation pass through her.

As discretely as possible, she lifted her fingers from her hand at her side and shot out the smallest amount of dark energy she could so that it wouldn’t be visible by anyone else. She knew that she hit her mark when the two almost toppled over and Yerim had to put Yeojin back on the ground else they would go sprawling across the floor in front of a McDonalds.

“You know her?” Ryujin mumbled to her, rolling her shoulder back to bump Hyejoo’s. She sent a reprimanding glare out of the corner of her eye to tell her not to use black magic in public.

Hyejoo scowled at her in response, though she stuffed her hands in her hoodie pocket just to prove she wouldn’t repeat that again. “Yeah, she’s harmless.”

“I didn’t know you hung out with sanguisuges?” Yuna said, looking very entertained by the scene playing out in front of her. She appeared rather excited at the prospect, though considering Hyejoo had caught her burying her nose in a vampire romance novel a year or two ago she wasn’t really surprised by the reaction.

“It’s not like I wanted to,” Hyejoo deadpanned, glaring at the way Yerim absent-mindedly rested her hand on top of Yeojin’s head. Did she really have to be touching her all the time? Hyejoo swore that whenever those two were together they were always attached in some way, shape or form. It was irritating, for some reason. Hyejoo didn’t do that when she hung out with Yeojin – just because Yerim liked physical contact so excessively it didn’t make her a better friend.

Right?

She watched the way that Yeojin rambled on and on – most likely explaining why she was hanging out with a coven of witches – her eyes shifting from her own hands, to the ceiling to finally meeting Yerim’s stern gaze. There was something akin to admiration there. The way that her eyes were so wide with a quiet desperation to please the other, like her opinion really mattered to her. Like she really valued what she had to say and would listen if she disagreed. It was familiar but watching it from afar instead of being on the receiving end of it was making her restless.

At the same time that the thought formed in her mind, Olivia decided to express her observation.

_ “You’re jealous.” _

That’s supposed to be me.

Startling out of her trance, Hyejoo clenched her fists and tried to stop herself from feeling the way that she was feeling then. This was something that she had never experienced before. She had never really cared for anybody else but herself – maybe Olivia now that they were attached in the mind. Even when she had been little and attended elementary school, she hadn’t been interested in making friends or trying to be someone that others would look up to and seek for when they needed advice.

Wanting to be the one that Yeojin could rely on… it was annoying. And a major inconvenience.

“You’re going to tell me why you know sanguisuges,” Ryujin said to her, a scolding kind of tone to her voice that Hyejoo returned with a glare. “But later, we need to feed the piggy over there first.”

The rest of the girls made hums of agreement, still distractedly watching Yeojin and Yerim bickering over whatever it was they were talking about.

“Wait a- hey!” Yuna spun around to frown at her sister, her voice loud with protest and disagreement. “I’m not a pig!”

Lia made a snorting sound of amusement, looking up at the younger girl and reaching to pat the top of her head. “Sure, baby, you keep telling yourself that.”

“I will sit on you, I swear,” Yuna growled back, though she didn’t swat away the older girl’s affectionate touch.

Hyejoo watched the interaction as discretely as possible. Was that how friends were supposed to interact with one another? Her and Yeojin had the sarcastic comments down, and it always felt easy to tease the younger girl like how Lia did to Yuna. Yeojin was a little more reluctant in taking the blow, but she took it well, nonetheless. She glanced back to where said girl had now made up with Yerim and was hanging from her like a monkey from a tree.

…Head pats?

Taking her hands from the pocket of her hoodie, she looked at the way that her fingers flexed curiously. She had killed men with these hands. Would patting Yeojin’s head make them better friends?

_ “You should try it.” _

For the first time, Hyejoo found herself not immediately disagreeing with Olivia.

-

Yerim finished making sure that whatever Yeojin was up to wouldn’t get her killed (even if it was by accident). She harbored some strange affection for the human girl that meant she cared even for the smallest of things, like how she would often had a knack of finding trouble with sharp objects in the kitchen, or how if left alone for too long Yerim would come back to a plan that would very likely end up with the girl either dead or heavily injured. And considering that Yeojin was her newfound friend who she took to caring about very quickly, and had let herself grow an attachment towards, there was no way she would let her strangely unwise impulses do any of those things.

It wasn’t something she was proud of, but Yerim’s other close friendships had tarnished three months ago.

Not necessarily tarnished, but Heejin was still very skeptical around her, even if she was doing her best to forgive her.

Yerim had apologized numerous times and although Heejin had been very violent about it at first (Yerim couldn’t blame her – she had recently lost her father, her mother was in a coma and she had met her long-lost half-sister – anyone would be a little destructive) she was surprisingly open to the idea of rebuilding the trust between them. Yerim could see it in the way that Heejin called her whenever she needed a favor with the work she was doing for the government (which was a big thing, because Heejin didn’t like asking for help). Heejin was also doing her best at explaining to Yerim why it was that she couldn’t trust her with certain things, and it wasn’t Yerim’s place to be upset about it, so she accepted it.

The dialogue was open.

But it wasn’t what it used to be.

And things with Chaewon had always been more complicated.

After all, Yerim had only befriended her in the beginning so that Chanwoo would be able to get the young girl’s trust to be a vessel for Gowon. And then Yerim had watched her grow up from a small, wiry, little thing engulfed in hospital gowns and the scars of needles pricked into her skin, to the girl that she was today.

It amazed Yerim that Chaewon had been the one to seek Haseul out first so she could get those electric bracelets engineered to fight Gowon back if she ever tried to take control again. That she had been going out on those hellhound hunts despite being entirely too unsure about whether she could control her powers or not. (Yerim had spoken to her a couple of times when she had spotted her in the work out room trying to learn how to use them, learning that Chaewon was working herself to the bone to even get a small spark out of her fingers.) Chaewon was even trying to connect with the other girls in the estate a little more.

Even if it was from afar, Yerim could see the tremendous growth.

But it wasn’t like what she had with Yeojin.

With Yeojin, she felt like she could just be something other than a sanguisuge again.

Like she was back to being a seventeen-year-old girl who worried about her homework due in the next day, and what job she would get in the future with her college degree. It was most likely due to the tutoring sessions that they had been doing, with Yeojin diligently learning from her teaching, and Yerim feeling like she was Yeojin’s senior at school.

Being with Yeojin was like nothing that was happening was actually happening.

Like Jinsoul and Jungeun weren’t currently travelling through the middle plane trying to defy death and the laws of nature and hadn’t been in a coma for the past three months with no signs of waking up any time soon.

Like there wasn’t crippling guilt inside of Yerim every time the topic of what had happened at the research facility came up.

Everything was just so much easier to forget when it was Yeojin.

“Hey, Choi Yerim, right?” Lee Jeno asked, standing up from the metal chair he had moved in front of a still recovering Heejin. He bowed a little in greeting and hesitated on whether to extend his hand for a handshake.

Rolling her eyes at the awkwardness, Yerim playfully glared at him and moved to where Heejin was sat. “I thought you were the popular, handsome sunbae, not some awkward guy who doesn’t know how to introduce himself to a girl,” she teased as lightly as possible, knowing that with the likes of him that was the fastest route to getting close. “But yes, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Choi Yerim, Heejin’s friend from school.”

Jeno just stared at her for several seconds. Yerim could hear his heartbeat beginning to slow down as he relaxed into the idea of talking to her and mentally celebrated a little. When he broke out into an amused grin, she beamed back at him just as much. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Jeno said, “I remember Heejin always used to ditch us during breaks so she could go talk to you.”

At the reminder, Yerim couldn’t help the spark of guilt in her chest. She gave him a smile, but even she could feel how tight-lipped it was. “How are you doing, by the way,” she said instead to Heejin, who was staring off into the space in front of her.

Feeling the pressure of gazes on her, Heejin jumped in her seat and sat up straighter. “Could be better,” she breathed out, her fists clenching on her leg where they had been rubbing her thigh.

“It’s okay,” Yerim ran her hand along the expanse of Heejin’s shoulder blades, doing a clockwise motion with the palm of her hand flat on her back. When Jungeun did it to her whenever she would feel anxious over something, it always helped her calm down as if the anxiety had never even been there in the first place. She hoped that it would have a similar effect on Heejin, too. “We should probably get you to the doctors so we can make sure you’re okay and not suffering any side effects.”

Heejin frowned, eyes moving from Yerim to Jeno who had also moved closer. “But I had a meeting with Jeno’s father today.” There were bags under her eyes, and although her frown was settled deep on her face there was something about it that lacked its usual energy. “We were going to be discussing… my inheritance from my parents.”

Yerim raised her eyebrows in recognition though refrained from expanding more on it.

She wasn’t sure just how much Jeno knew about what his father did for a living, but she wasn’t willing on risking the exposure of her specie just to ask Heejin more about it. She could ask her later when they were at the hospital and Heejin had made sure the allergic reaction hadn’t been severe.

“No, Yerim-ssi is right, we should get you to the doctors.” Jeno delicately wrapped a hand around Heejin’s arm to help her up. Yerim quickly took the hint and helped her by supporting her other arm. “I’ll just text my dad and tell him that we have to reschedule – I’m sure he’ll understand the situation and look for another time you guys can talk.”

“But the schedule-“

“Listen to sunbaenim, Heejin,” Yerim hovered her arm around Heejin’s waist, making sure not to touch her but letting her know that she was there for support if she needed it. “You won’t be able to talk to him if you’re dead, will you?”

As soon as she tried taking a step forward with her left leg, her entire weight faltered and almost sprawled across the floor.

Yerim rapidly tightened her grip on Heejin’s waist and pulled her close against her body, using her strength to make sure that she wouldn’t slip out of the one-armed grip. On the human girl’s other side, Jeno panickedly rushed to steady Heejin, stretching his arm out in front of her to cushion her in case she did end up slipping out of Yerim’s hold. What he didn’t know, however, was that Yerim had superhuman strength and her grip was extremely reliable, so Heejin wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon.

A surge of hatred for Heejin’s older sister swept through her and all Yerim could think about was deciding to drain the blood out of that girl for what she had done to Heejin.

There were multiple instances throughout their conversation where Yerim could hear the girl’s heartbeat pick up. She could hear when she would lie, and when she would avoid something.

She had tried motioning to Heejin whenever that happened with the sign language she had learned with Chaewon when the latter refused to talk when they first met, but evidently that hadn’t worked out very well for them.

She knew that Heejin had an issue with giving away her trust far too easily, and even though that girl had done horrible things to her in the past and said unthinkable things, Heejin had still looked like she was beginning to open up to the possibility that maybe her sister was just a troubled individual. There was a part in Yerim that knew if she asked Heejin, she would tell her that her sister just had a lot of issues that weren’t her fault.

Which was why Yerim had to kill that bitch before she could hurt Heejin anymore.

“Come on, I can drive us there – I’ll call my dad for you if it worries you that much.” Jeno began directing them to the elevator section of the mall, his grip on Heejin almost as tight as Yerim’s was.

There was no doubt that Jeno cared for Heejin. The frown on his face was too much for it not to be concern, and the way that he handled Heejin was very delicate – as if he were afraid if he held her too hard, he would hurt her. If Yerim didn’t know any better, she would think that there was something going on between the two of them.

She then remembered Hyunjin, and her mood instantly soured.

Before everything had happened, she held no ill will towards the girl. Heejin would always gush and talk about her during their breaks, and Yerim would always think that whoever was making her ‘unnie’ smile and swoon this much was a great person.

And then she had actually met Hyunjin for the first time in person, and the scent of Jinsoul had been all over her.

It had been overwhelming in a way that had made Yerim’s head spin, and even if Hyunjin hadn’t said anything Yerim knew. She knew that scent to the point where it had been ingrained into her soul so even if she lost all recollection of her past, she would still be able to point out the distinct aroma. And smelling it over another person had been maddening. It had made the protective, animalistic instincts in her prickle and suddenly there was this hatred that had formed that centered itself around Hyunjin even if they had never spoken a word to one another.

Her attitude toward Hyunjin from then on had been one of a bitter child. She herself couldn’t understand why she harbored so much resentment for the girl, but it was just a fact she had come to terms with eventually, and more often than not it tended to surface when the girl was near.

It was only natural that someone as competitive as “number one track star” (per Heejin’s words one cold morning that Hyunjin had practice) would return the hatred with just as much animosity.

So to say that Yerim and Hyunjin didn’t get along would be a little bit of an understatement.

“Yerim, can you grab my phone from my pocket?” Heejin asked her, still doing her best to hop on her good leg as they neared the elevators. “I need to tell Hyunjin that I’ll be going to the hospital so I can’t meet up with her after my meeting.”

Refraining from pulling a face, Yerim just searched Heejin’s expression very briefly before sighing. “Which pocket?”

Heejin let herself let out a quiet laugh of amusement. “I don’t know why you two hate each other so much,” she reached over Yerim’s shoulder for her phone in Yerim’s hand, doing her best to turn her phone on so she could alert her girlfriend of their whereabouts. “I swear if you two just looked past your differences, you would be best friends.”

Yerim thought about the instinctive hatred that burned at her insides and let out a soft puff of air through her nose. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s happening any time soon.”

Heejin rolled her eyes, shooting her a weak smile that was mostly just due to the fatigue. “You two are both so stubborn.”

_All the similarities… must be why Jinsoul had chosen them both._

-

They had arrived at the hospital around an hour ago.

Jeno was familiar with the intern that was working at the desk, so they were quickly able to get Heejin into one of the rooms to get a check up done on her. In the meantime, Yerim took to walking around the hospital and trying to clear her thought a little before Heejin was dismissed from the doctors and they would be able to go back to her apartment again. There were still some matters that Heejin had to finish up with that Yerim could help with, so she was willing to wait for Heejin’s check up to finish.

She took her phone out of her pocket, debating whether or not to send Yeojin a message to see if everything was okay on her side of things.

Yerim had never been too keen on the idea of humans using black magic to their heart’s content.

Jungeun had taught her about some of the history that came with the use of black magic and how it was expected for demons to have natural abilities when it came to the art. But when humans used black magic, there tended to be a price that came with their abuse.

Jungeun had taken her on some of her missions that the syndicate assigned to her as the only demon they could turn to, thus being the only one qualified to deal with cases with black magic. During those missions, they would come across with humans who had read far too many taboo books and had been trying to hone their abilities to manipulate the magic. And with humans, greed always managed to follow them, so it made sense that there were so many humans that Jungeun had to cleanse from the overwhelming black energies that had seeped into their systems like venom and turned them into lifeless vessels.

Yerim had seen the way that the veins under their skin would swell with the black magic incompatible with their bodies. The mapping of black lines in their blood system showing on their skin and if it got to a point where it was too late to stop the energy from overwhelming the human body, then the blackness would seep into the whites of their eyes and they would just be uncontrollable vessels that craved more and more energy.

That was the last thing that she wanted happening to Yeojin if the girl ever happened to attempt black magic.

The only person she was aware of who could cleanse someone of the venomous energy was Jungeun, and she was currently in a kind of in a persistently vegetative state. If Yeojin began to dabble in black magic…

Her thoughts were interrupted when her shoulder was bumped by someone walking by her, and she found herself stumbling a little from the surprise force. Had she been fully aware of her surrounding, her strength would have sent the man sprawling all over the floor with no way to explain why such a short teenage girl could throw the weight of a grown man without doing much.

Immediately wearing a sheepish smile, Yerim turned to look at the person she had bumped into. “My apologies,” she bowed her head as a form of apology.

“That’s alright,” the cool voice responded softly, though there was something about his tone that lacked kindness. Something that made the hairs in the back of Yerim’s neck stand on end and the end of her nose tickle with familiarity from the aroma that was wafting from him in waves. Like heavy mixtures of aftershave, cologne and scented oils. “It’s my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Yerim continued to smile brightly. “It’s fine,” her eyes roved over his appearance and she took in the open button-up shirt that displayed a necklace on his bare chest and the expensive blazer jacket shrugged on over his built figure. There was something about him that was making the back of her mind tickle with recognition. Like she’d seen him somewhere before. Curious, she took a small step towards him as a silent welcome into conversation. “It can get pretty busy around these hallways – are you visiting someone?”

The man studied her quietly, though the soft look didn’t leave his expression. “You could say that I’m visiting some family,” he said, and Yerim immediately took notice to the ring he was spinning around his middle finger with the thumb of the same hand at his side. “What about you? What brings you here?”

There was something strange about his scent.

It didn’t sit well with her.

Doing her best to laugh like she was flustered, Yerim tucked her hair behind her ear. “Just here for a friend,” she said vaguely, pretending to shy her eyes away from him.

He was handsome – there was no denying that – but Yerim felt absolutely no attraction towards him. In fact, there was something about the way that he smelled that was making her stomach churn with anxiety the more she stuck around.

Biting into her bait, he stepped closer to her and for the first time let the corners of his mouth tweak up. “Is your friend going to be taking much longer?”

Yerim was good at hiding her expressions behind her smile. She hid the way bile rose in the back of her throat at the sudden suggestive tone in his voice. She hid how her heart began to beat faster as memories from past encounters with men with the same smirk on their faces approaching her with the same stance. Her smile concealed the sudden twitch of her fingers at her side, refraining from reaching out and snapping at this man’s arm to keep him from getting any closer.

But there was something that was not quite right that Yerim just had to find out what it was.

Her answer was cut short by a familiar voice, and the man was letting out a small huff of amusement through his parted lips as he let his eyes roam over Yerim one last time, lingering on her body far too long. He turned as sleekly as one could, his motions resembling water gently maneuvering around pebbles and corners in a stream. With his hand in his pocket and chin tilted slightly back as if asking who dared bother him from whatever that encounter was, they both turned to look toward the familiar girl striding down the hallway in the same outfit she wore before.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Ha Sooyoung strutted toward them, her appearance resembling that of a model from a magazine. She looked unaffected from the events that had taken place mere hours before.

Yerim felt the anger bubbling in her chest but anchored it down. There would be no point in creating a scene in the middle of a hospital of all places. Especially when it seemed like the girl didn’t recognize her from the café.

At that thought, the epiphany burst in Yerim’s head and she was piecing everything together.

The man was also the one from the café who had held Sooyoung back from going off on Heejin. And the two were here together, in the hospital for reasons unknown to Yerim.

“Dad wants us back for early dinner,” Sooyoung said, unaware of the hatred sweltering behind Yerim’s eyes as she watched her sidle up beside the man and absent-mindedly slide her hand behind his back in a familiar manner. She looked disgruntled by the fact, though in a more inconvenienced manner than actual annoyance. “We’re meeting with some new business partners, apparently. You have to drive me back so I can get dressed.”

Yerim watched the interaction closely, though tried to make her presence as small as possible so Sooyoung wouldn’t notice her.

Unfortunately, the opposite happened. The taller girl was sparing her a glance from the corner of her eye. Her posture immediately became defensive, eyes narrowing in the slightest of manners and heart picking up.

She recognized her.

“Oh,” Sooyoung said, caution dripping from her voice. “Hello, I didn’t see you there.”

Her eyes darted between Yerim and the man that had wrapped his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer, suspicion extremely evident on her features. For someone who had managed to convince Heejin to eat something that could have killed her, she was surprisingly expressive and easy to read. Though she supposed that she hadn’t been lying when she was telling Heejin her story.

“Do you two… know each other?” There were hints of irritation in her slight glare.

Playing into her part as a shy, infatuated girl, Yerim nervously looked toward the tall man.

Swiftly as ever, he made a humming sound in the back of his throat and pulled Sooyoung closer into his chest. “We met at one of those business parties your father likes taking me to,” he lied easily, his heartbeat barely stuttering as the words flowed from his mouth. Yerim wouldn’t have noticed he was lying if it weren’t for the fact that she was scrutinizing his every move and she herself knew that she had only ever seen this man once before in her life. “Don’t worry, babe, we’re just friends,” he mumbled at Sooyoung, slightly leaning into her face as if he were going to kiss her before leaning back to look at Yerim. “Right?”

Yerim then knew exactly what kind of person this man was.

Putting on her most innocent grin, Yerim nodded. “Right,” she pretended to flounder with her bag and phone and clumsily extended a hand toward Sooyoung, “it’s nice to meet you – my name is Choerry.”

Sooyoung, despite the vileness she had displayed toward Heejin earlier that day, managed to muster a hesitant yet polite smile. Yerim anticipated it when she leaned forward to stretch her hand out. There was a voice in her head telling her to take Sooyoung’s hand and crush it so hard that the bones crumbled beneath the pressure – that it wouldn’t even matter if Sooyoung broke her hand because they were in a hospital so she would be able to be treated immediately. But she refrained and let the her just shake her hand normally.

Something glinted under the artificial lights of the hospital hallway and Yerim’s eyes immediately darted toward the trigger.

The taller girl leaned back into her boyfriend’s embrace, but Yerim followed the necklace that hung from her neck and sat proudly in the center of her chest.

_They must just be similar designs…_

“Oppa,” Sooyoung shook her boyfriend’s shoulder to get his attention, “come on, we’re gonna be late again if we just keep standing here.”

Yerim did her best to focus on the design. The white gemstone that had undertones of blue beneath its shiny surface. The gold that held it in a pentagonal shape. The slightly clumsy make in the chain that allowed the gemstone to hang from the back of Sooyoung’s neck and rest just above her breasts.

“It was nice meeting you,” Yerim bowed as respectfully as possible with the loathing coiling around her heart, avoiding the man’s heavy gaze and instead looking right in Sooyoung’s eyes. There was an unspoken promise in her eyes. A promise that Yerim would undoubtedly end her if she ever tried doing something like that to Heejin ever again, hidden just beneath a layer of false gentleness. “See you later,” she waved toward them, knowing that this wouldn’t be the last time they met.

As soon as she had walked a fair enough distance away from the couple, Yerim threw the handle of her bag over her shoulder and opened the lock screen of her phone.

**[15:02] Yerimmie: hey are you busy??**

Remembering that the girl had a bad habit of ignoring text messages for several hours until she could be bothered with social interaction, she typed:

**[15:03] Yerimmie: reply asap**

Yerim speed-walked to the waiting room where she had left Jeno on a call with his father.

Her heart was pounding erratically in her chest.

She knew that she had seen that piece of jewelry somewhere before, but she couldn’t really pin-point where. She was sure that she really had no connection to it, but there was something about the gemstone that spoke out to her and drew her towards it. Like it was calling out to her.

The scent was the first thing that hit her, and then the voices followed, and her heart was already sinking a little in her chest.

“I’m seriously going to murder that bitch,” Hyunjin was saying to Heejin, her hand cradling her face where they stood almost chest to chest in the middle of the waiting room. Her unique scent was always one of fresh laundry and strange sweetness that Yerim associated with sweets and bread, but Jinsoul’s scent that resembled the air of the night right after a storm was a little too overwhelming for Yerim’s finely tuned sense of smell, and she found herself scrunching her nose in discomfort as she got closer.

Heejin sent a glance in Jeno’s direction, who was awkwardly watching the two girls interact. “I know that when you say that it sounds like you’re not serious, but if you actually do try to kill her I’m going to be so mad at you,” the girl breathed, trying to stop Jeno from listening into their conversation.

Yerim heard it from where she was still several steps away thanks to her hearing. She didn’t think that there would ever be a time where she and Hyunjin agreed so fervently on one thing.

“She tried to _kill_ you,” Hyunjin growled, the anger evident in her hasty movements to stop Heejin from pushing her away. “I think it’s only fair that I return the favor.”

Before Heejin could spur on to berate Hyunjin and her impulsive behavior, Yerim sidled up between Jeno and Heejin. “I agree with her,” she said bluntly, and Hyunjin’s eyes immediately snapped to look toward her in mild irritation and surprise. “Unnie, I ran into your sister just now with her boyfriend-“

“What? Where is she?” Hyunjin tried pushing into Yerim’s space, but Heejin’s hands on her chest and stomach stopped her.

“Are you okay?” Heejin asked, concern in her frown.

“I’m fine,” Yerim flashed Heejin a reassuring smile, though she could still feel the remnants of whatever off-kilter presence that man had had. Her mind was scrambled with millions of thoughts flying through her head, and she knew that if she didn’t chase after whatever lead her encounter with Sooyoung had given her, all her thoughts would dissolve in her hands. “Is it okay if I stop by sometime tomorrow? I need to do something really urgently.”

Heejin nodded, looking like she wanted to ask more but taking the slightly raised eyebrows on Yerim’s face into consideration. “Sure, I don’t think I have any meetings tomorrow…”

Turning to Hyunjin, Yerim steeled her expression. “Is Vivi-unnie still with you or did she go home?”

Hyunjin, having noticed the tension boiling in the air between them, schooled her features into a more professional gaze and glanced in the direction of the desk of emergencies. “She came with me when she heard about Heejin,” she vaguely tilted her head in that direction, “she’s just signing some legal documents for her.”

“Alright, thank you.” Yerim bowed her head slightly at Hyunjin, trying her best to remain polite for the sake of the image that she had around Jeno, who still stood there with his hands in his pockets and looking between all of them curiously. She turned to him, letting herself smile a little brighter to try and help him relax around the two girls who were so obviously enraptured with one another. “Thank you for today, sunbae.”

“Ah, no,” Shaking both his head and his hands so hard that his hair shimmied across his forehead. “You were the one that got the EpiPen from those girls.”

Heejin perked up at that. “Ah, right, I forgot to thank you for that,” she said, turning from a quiet Hyunjin and throwing her arms around Yerim. “Thank you for being there for me,” Heejin mumbled into her shoulder, and Yerim could feel that she wasn’t just talking about saving her from her own allergies.

Expelling some of the tension that had been pulling her muscles taut, Yerim gently wrapped her arms around Heejin in response. “Always.”

As they pulled away, Yerim accidentally met Hyunjin’s eyes. The two exchanged some strange sort of mutual understanding. Like a silent agreement that if it were matters concerning Heejin, then they would put aside whatever spat they had between them and do anything they could to protect her. For some strange reason, it managed to make Jinsoul’s scent on Hyunjin a little more bearable. Maybe it was knowing that they now shared a common goal.

“Before you go, Yerim-ssi,” Jeno shyly reached up to rub at the back of his head, running his hand through his hair. “My father rescheduled his meeting with Heejin to next Friday when there’s a party for one of the politicians to celebrate a special day,” he turned to speak to all of them, seemingly informing Heejin about this for the first time, too. “He’s very busy lately and that’s the only time he could that’s closest so you guys could talk. He said that Hyunjin was more than welcome to come, too – apparently you two talked earlier?”

Hyunjin nodded, instinctively stepping closer to Heejin again to slide an arm around her waist.

“So if Heejin wants, you can tag along with her, too.” Jeno said to Yerim.

Not wanting to make the decision for her, Yerim looked toward Heejin. The latter met her gaze and they wordlessly agreed with each other.

“I’ll make sure to be there,” Yerim smiled at Jeno, beginning to back away from the group. “I’ll have to steal some of my sister’s dresses, though.” She hoped that Jungeun wouldn’t mind her rifling through her wardrobes – it wasn’t like the demon would be using any of her clothes any time soon. (She ignored the ache in her chest that came along with those thoughts.)

As she walked toward the reception desk where she could begin to catch Vivi’s scent (linen and sandalwood) she checked her phone again.

**[15:14] Chae: I was gonna try to talk to Gowon**

**[15:14] Chae: why, whats up?**

**[15:16] Yerimmie: I need you to come with me to soul-unnie’s old place**

Yerim’s fingers hovered over the screen.

**[15:17] Yerimmie: I might need your powers**

-

The Shin’s were an enigma.

Despite Yuna being loud, storming down the hallways so the sound of her voice carried to the insides of classrooms, and attending various sports clubs at school, she didn’t really have many permanent friends or talk about herself at all. Yeojin had overheard some conversations she was in with people who had nervously tried approaching her to ask her for help with homework, or if she wanted to sit with them at lunch. She just went on and on about the potholes in the road and how it was strange that they were getting so much rain while it was still sunny instead of accepting their requests or answering questions about herself.

Ryujin, for obvious reasons, also didn’t have many friends. That didn’t mean that she didn’t have numerous admirers fawning over her and people always whispering, “man, I really want to be her friend”. It was just that the majority of people tended to react negatively to Ryujin’s many piercings and the way that she dressed (with varying t-shirts underneath the uniform button-up shirt and trendy tracksuit bottoms beneath her skirt) so she was viewed as a gangster by those who didn’t try seeing past her image. Yeojin was fortunate to have been introduced to her by Hyejoo, who had established some kind of mutual respect with her enough for them to talk like they were friends.

Except Hyejoo was like the Shin’s and also didn’t have many friends.

Aside from Yeojin, of course. Yeojin felt slightly validated knowing that she was the only one who Hyejoo let hang around her so long.

Walking into the Shin’s apartment (which was a low-rise building surprisingly near to where Yeojin used to live with Haseul and Vivi) was more surprising than what Yeojin had been anticipating.

“I kind of expected something a little more…” Yeojin trailed off as she looked around the living room with large windows that had crystals hanging from the frames in a way that was almost curtain-like. Much of the space looked like the typical apartment out of a Pinterest post, with various succulents and potted plants dotted around shelves, small tables and countertops. It was an open kitchen style apartment, with a dining table for four in the middle of the kitchen. The only thing that told Yeojin witches lived there were the various jars of strange substances, rustic looking books that appeared to be tattered and worse for wear, and the large rug that displayed a pentagram-like design.

“Gothic, right?” Yuna bounced past her and proceeded to launch herself onto the L-shaped, beige couch. She kicked her shoes off without a care in the world as to where they dropped and stretched her long limbs out.

Lia laughed as they walked in, very gently patting Yeojin on the shoulder as she said, “Don’t worry, I was expecting something a darker from Ryujin, too.”

Unbothered by the commentary on her home, Ryujin sluggishly waded towards where Yuna had discarded her footwear and bent down to pick them up. “Bathroom is just past the aqua curtains, on your left,” she said to Hyejoo, who had already been walking in that general direction as if this was her home too.

“She’s so much more into the soft aesthetic than what it seems, trust me.” Yeji approached them when she had finished fighting off her very stylish boots. Both Lia and Yeojin looked at each other when they registered the very noticeable piece of hair sticking up on the side of the older girl’s head, stifling their laughter and pretending like they hadn’t seen it. “Ryujin is the type of person who cries at romance movies.”

Lifting a disbelieving eyebrow, Lia nudged Yeji’s arm with her elbow. “You were also crying pretty hard, last I remember. And right into your stuffed toy, too.”

Yeji’s face scrunched up and the tips of her ears turned red. She started stuttering for words, leaving Yeojin and Lia to laugh to their heart’s content at the surprisingly clumsy mess that was Yeji. (Who Yeojin had known to be the ‘it’ girl of their school just last year.) “Stop it! You weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that,” Yeji’s personality was a shocking contrast to her frosty appearance, the childish whine in her voice and the pout on her face really doing the trick to rid herself of that ‘ice queen’ image.

Ryujin lazily dragged her feet across the floorboards as she walked towards them, Yuna’s shoes hanging from her fingers. “Are you guys bullying Yeji-unnie again?” She briefly stopped by said girl to reach up and fix the piece of hair sticking out of place from her head. “Haven’t we already agreed that she’s too sensitive for that?”

Cheekily, Lia sent her brightest grin to Ryujin. “She was trying to expose you for being a softie.”

“Lia!” Yeji slapped the other girl’s arm and was about to go for another go when Lia quickly scuttled behind Yeojin to use her as a shield.

“There’s nothing wrong with showing your emotions,” Ryujin calmly said, ironically not showing any traces on her face. She nonchalantly brushed between Yeojin and Yeji to put Yuna’s shoes on the shoe rack. “You guys trying to make fun of me for it is toxic behaviour.”

Yeojin watched the interaction with amusement in her eyes.

Getting to see the Shin Ryujin, who was rumoured to have kicked stray kittens for fun, walk around her very pastel-toned apartment and telling her friends that them saying her crying was bad was what was truly wrong with society – it was as if Yeojin had somehow stepped through a magical portal and entered another dimension. One where Ryujin was laughing loudly at Lia’s jokes, and _the_ Hwang Yeji was a whining, childish mess throwing a temper tantrum at being the focus of their teasing.

Feeling like an outsider to their sudden conversation about something that had happened during one of their sleepovers, Yeojin instead moved to where Yuna was still strewn on the couch with Chaeryeong texting someone haphazardly on her phone. “What’s it like,” she said as she sat down on the strange rug, leaning onto the couch where Yuna’s waist was, “being a witch?”

“It’s awesome,” Yuna rolled over, her arms coming down so her hands immediately landed on Yeojin’s hair. “Black magic is honestly so cool to learn about, and even though it’s a little dangerous if you end up losing control, it’s totally worth it.”

Yeojin adjusted herself so it was easier for Yuna to start braiding her hair. She could feel her heart in her chest leap in excitement at the thought of ever being able to do something like that. “Is it something you’re born with?” She eagerly pressed, feeling her voice raise in volume at her enthusiasm. “Like, since you guys have like a lineage of witchcraft and stuff.”

“You know what,” Yuna’s eyes wandered elsewhere in the room as a moment of silence fell between them. “I honestly don’t know. But what I do know is that you could totally become a witch too, even if no one in your family was one before.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Really?”

“Totally, it all depends on the person.” Yuna pushed herself up from the couch and shuffled awkwardly across so they could both sit on it. When Yeojin dropped onto the space she had created, the taller yet younger girl jumped to face her, an excitable grin on her face as she did so. “I could do a test to see if you actually do have the potential to use black magic. Ryeong-unnie taught me how to do it because Ryujin-unnie didn’t want to.”

“You can do that?” Yeojin leaned forward ecstatically, her heart pounding a mile a minute in her chest. “I’ve always wanted to know if I had secret superpowers.”

Laughing loudly, Yuna gently grabbed her arm to stretch it out between them. “Haven’t we all?”

Behind Yuna, Chaeryeong stood up from her place on the couch as if she hadn’t heard any part of their conversation, too engrossed in her phone. She walked off toward the blue curtain that Ryujin had pointed Hyejoo to, head still ducked to look at her screen. Hyejoo had resurfaced from the bathroom, looking bored as always with her hands deep in her pockets and making her way over to where Yuna was rambling extensively about the process of how to do the trick. The older girl met Yeojin’s eyes, and the latter grinned mischievously at her.

“Okay, okay- Unnie, just try to focus all of your energy in on yourself,” Yuna started to say, attempting to school her expression into a more serious one.

“What? How do I do that?” Yeojin felt herself deflate and the youngers’ words. How was she supposed to manifest some sort of energy? Was that some spiritual lingo that she needed to know about to be able to do witchcraft?

Hyejoo perched herself behind Yeojin in the little space there was left on the couch, meaning that she was sat closer than usual on a normal day. “She means trying to focus on one point in your body – preferably someplace like the center of your chest or around your head.” The older girl leaned on the backrest of the couch indifferently, resting her head in the palm of her hand as she squinted her eyes suspiciously at them. “What are you two up to?”

Yuna shot her a nervous grin, though proceeded to ignore her in favour of continuing the process. “Yeah, it’s like that,” she rubbed the skin across Yeojin’s forearm, creating friction and warming it up, “all you have to do is focus really hard on your breathing while I try to pull out your energy so it’s easier to get in touch with magic.”

Frowning a little to herself, Yeojin shifted in her place on the couch and tried to do like they said.

“Hey wait a minute,” Hyejoo said, her weight lurching on the couch behind Yeojin. “Is Ryujin letting you do this kind of thing now?”

She tried to focus on the center of her chest and found that her mind naturally honed on her breathing.

“Don’t worry, Unnie, I’m naturally talented at magic so there’s little that can go wrong.”

She became self-conscious of how she would inhale so her chest would expand and later sink when she blew out a large breath of air. It felt a little bothersome, so Yeojin attempted to extend the lengths of her inhales and exhales like how Vivi did when she was doing yoga in their old living room.

Abruptly she remembered what Vivi had said to her back at the estate and felt her heart clench painfully in her chest. Looking back on it now that she had eaten properly and given herself some time and space to think, her reaction to Vivi’s words hadn’t been very mature of her and unnecessarily emotional. The woman had simply been worried about the identities of the Shin’s, which considering that the first thing she had found out about them was that they were witches wasn’t the best way to introduce them to her. Now that Yeojin looked back on it with a calmer mind, she was glad that Vivi cared about her enough to worry.

Which brought her to thoughts of Haseul, who had said that she had some free time for the first time in a while.

Of course, the first thing that Haseul thought about when it wasn’t her project was to spend time with Yeojin and Vivi. Yeojin – despite all of her talk that Haseul was overbearing and unnecessarily protective – loved Haseul the most.

Her older sister had done everything in her power to keep them together as a family after the death of their mother. Yeojin still remembered getting called up by the teacher from the middle of foreign languages study telling her that there was a call from the hospital for her. They had grown up in a small town an hour’s way away from the city, so the school building was as small as the population in the town was. That only meant that Yeojin had picked up the phone from her teacher’s desk and received the unfortunate news in the middle of class.

Yeojin had been eleven years old at the time. She could still remember Haseul’s expression when she burst through the school doors in her high school uniform.

Her skin had been flushed, sweat glistening her forehead, nose and chin because she had run all the way from her high school to Yeojin’s middle school, which just so happened to be all the way across town. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and Yeojin knew that she had already cried herself multiple buckets of tears because her older sister had always been the overtly sensitive one between the both of them. But there was something in the way that she rolled her shoulders back that day and settled her expression into one of stoicism despite her breathing still being terribly uneven from having run up and down multiple hills.

Those were the days that Yeojin finally saw her sister as someone other than the annoying girl who didn’t want to share her yoghurts with her and kicked her out of her room.

Haseul, at sixteen years old, had taken up multiple part time jobs to desperately save up. Her goal the entire time was to get Yeojin out from child services so they could run away to the city and start a new life for themselves – where Haseul could look for a stable job and child services wouldn’t separate their now family of two.

Which was how they ended up meeting Vivi.

Yeojin was never told how their first several encounters went down, but by now she understood that Vivi had taken one look at the underaged girl in the shady nightclub and had seen her as an easy target. What Vivi hadn’t known was that Haseul always insisted on carrying pepper spray around – especially after they had moved to the city and it was just the two of them – so the vampire hadn’t gotten to feed from her so easily.

One thing led to another and Haseul had somehow convinced Vivi that she was a science genius who could reverse the genetic process to turn vampires back into humans.

Call it a stroke of luck, if you will, but Vivi ended up being able to provide for all of them while simultaneously allowing them to create a small family of their own.

How cringy.

It would be a lie if Yeojin said she hadn’t thought about becoming a vampire herself.

She knew that Haseul wasn’t very comfortable with the fact that vampires even existed in the first place, but Yeojin had been a lot keener on the concept and had asked Vivi as many questions as her mind could muster up.

Their super strength was incredible, for one. Yeojin had seen Vivi lift an entire bed as if it was nothing just so Yeojin could search for her missing project that was due the next day. She had heard about Jinsoul single-handedly killing over a hundred vampires who had all been older, wiser and supposedly more powerful than her, all for the vengeance of her daughter. She had experienced Hyunjin’s strength as she carried both her and Hyejoo at once as if they weighed nothing, outrunning bullets in the syndicate building. Yerim had even agreed to test out how many heavy objects she could carry just to satiate Yeojin’s curiosity.

Also, their superspeed was something that she was extremely envious of. With her short legs, she often had to jog or power walk beside people who were much taller than her (Hyejoo) and often ended up being tired out of her mind after spending an entire day doing just that. If she had superspeed, then she wouldn’t have to ever worry about that again.

Plus, who didn’t want to be a powerful, immortal being?

She felt the skin on her body begin to prickle. Like the air around her was becoming charged with electricity of some sort.

As soon as she’d heard about witchcraft, Yeojin had been hooked.

Originally, she thought that only people like Hyejoo (those who had a deity inside of them) could use black magic. But when Hyejoo introduced her to Ryujin and Yuna, she realized that these were two human girls from a lineage of humans who all could use black magic despite of their nature.

That was so much easier than trying to get bitten by Vivi (she had asked before, and the vampire had happened to tell Haseul who obviously went on a screaming rant for ever thinking of something like that) or Yerim (despite her sister’s warnings then, she had still tried again with her new friend, who immediately refused to do such a thing and told her that being a ‘sanguisuge’ was the most horrible thing someone could experience).

She hoped that she had potential for the art.

She wasn’t incredibly intelligent like her sister or have political connections like Heejin. She wanted to be powerful like everyone else.

Abruptly, the air around her was suctioned out.

Panic was the first thing to register in her mind, and her eyes shot open (when had they closed?) to look for answers as to why she suddenly couldn’t breathe.

For a moment she thought that someone had turned all the lights out, but then she remembered how the natural light from outside had been streaming into the room like the scenery from a movie. Then she tried to justify it by thinking that the curtains had been drawn. Maybe this kind of process needed to happen in the dark to help draw out the ‘black magic’ a little easier.

But then she could hear the muffled voices and thought that perhaps they sounded a little loud, yet like they were standing very far away.

She had no idea what was happening to her. Hopefully this was all part of the near-death experiences that main characters in the movies and books all had to go through to gain their superpowers, and then she could become a superhero and save the world from the likes of Thanos.

Was that Hyejoo shouting her name in the distance? She had been sitting right behind her last time she had checked…

And maybe that was Ryujin also shouting. If Yeojin focused hard enough, she was pretty sure she could hear something about Yuna being the stupidest person alive and how their parents were going to kill all of them.

If this was the way that Yeojin died, that would be highly unfortunate. But honestly? Not the worse way to go when she had kind of been expecting to die choking on Haseul’s not very great cooking. (Her older sister tried, bless her, but she could _not_ cook one decent meal for the life of her.)

Suddenly, Yeojin’s sense of touch was brought back. There were a pair of hands on her temples, and abruptly she became very aware of what Yuna had meant by ‘energy’.

It felt like something physical was being pulled out from her body through where the hands were gripping at her temples – like a cold, thick substance that had filled her insides was being dragged out all at once. If she had to describe it like something, she would have to compare it to how it felt when she threw up. It felt like her entire body and spirit was throwing up whatever had poisoned her insides and made the air around her disappear.

As the strange thing was being dragged out, Yeojin saw her vision coming back.

The darkness began to pull back from her eyeballs like layers of cling film that ripped and teared on its way out. She could see the blurry image of a woman’s face right in front of her, and when her eyes got distracted by the crowd of people over her shoulder, she saw a guilt-ridden Yuna with her ear between a livid Ryujin.

There was something that she noticed about the powerful people around her. Every time that they used their abilities or powers, their eye colors would somewhat change. She remembered the study that Haseul tried conducting on why that was and slightly recalled that it was linked to the brain activity that caused the eyes (which were one of the parts of the body closest to the brain) to become alight with individual colors. Yeojin insisted that it was just something supernatural that couldn’t be explained by science.

The woman’s eyes in front of her right now had a strange blue sheen over the hues of her eyes, like when the light reflected in them, they glowed a soft dark blue without losing the brown beneath.

Yeojin slumped back when the woman removed her hands from her head, but someone caught her and steadied her before she could fully collapse.

Panting heavily, Yeojin tried to recalibrate her senses and understand what had just happened.

Multiple voices were asking her if she was okay: Lia and Yeji were leaning over the back of the couch with their chosen pieces of jewelry as their talisman in case they needed to use magic; Yuna had been released from her older sister’s grip and had snuck underneath the woman’s arms to stand closer to Yeojin while Ryujin tended to the woman who had just been holding her head; Chaeryeong was clasping onto her phone, eyes wide in shock and worry deep in her face.

Even Hyejoo, who was awkwardly cradling her body in her arms, was asking her if she was feeling alright, and Hyejoo rarely did that.

Yeojin croaked when she tried to talk, grabbing everyone’s attention at once. Lia dashed off into the kitchen to go grab her a glass of water while Yeji hesitantly reached out rub her shoulder comfortingly. Yuna was tearily holding onto her hands, the remorse very evident on her face.

Clearing her throat as best as possible, she looked at the younger girl. A small, weak grin appeared on her face. “Haha… do I have superpowers now?”

-

“I haven’t seen you in forever,” Jeno said casually from the driver’s seat.

Hyunjin looked up from where she had been lost in her own thoughts, meeting his eye through the rear-view mirror. Her hand unknowingly squeezed Heejin’s, who had decided to sit in the back seat beside her instead of occupying the passenger seat like Jeno had motioned for by opening the door for her. (It had taken everything in Hyunjin not to burst out laughing at the dejection on Jeno’s face, though she had to admit that as much as she wanted to hate him for his crush on her girlfriend, he was actually pretty likeable.)

She was just trying to wrap her head around the fact that the man she had spoken to earlier about the relations between sanguisuges and humans was his father.

“I know, there were some personal issues that I had to take care of,” Hyunjin had rehearsed this a million times in her head in case she bumped into someone she used to know from school.

Her and Heejin had agreed on telling people that they were both involved in the same accident but couldn’t disclose any information on it because of the law. Which was true, in a sense, because the government had ordered Vivi to tell all sanguisuges not to say a word about what had happened during those times to anyone but the people involved. If the media found out about the murders in the research facility that day – especially that the cause of death of Heejin’s father and the reason why Heejin’s mother was in hospital was not due to an explosion – then the Human Rights movement would most likely have to get involved.

And then how would they explain to them that ‘human rights’ would not necessarily apply to another unknown specie living amongst the people.

She figured that Jeno had already been briefed by his father about this predicament, because he only nodded and let the matter go. “You know, I remember how you were always pretty quiet, but your grades were awesome, and you were really good at sports.”

That made a small smile appear on Hyunjin’s face. “Don’t lie to me, everyone knows I was not very well liked.”

Jeno’s face crumbled in surprise before he was stuttering to redeem himself.

Hyunjin laughed as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb Heejin who had fallen asleep against the backseat several minutes ago. “But it’s not like I ever cared about being popular,” she tried to reassure him, feeling bad for the way she could see the heat crawling up the back of his neck from where he sat in front of her. “I just wanted to get on with my work so I could get into uni.”

“How did that turn out, by the way?” Jeno asked, following his GPS’ instructions and turning down the next right. (Hyunjin was admittedly a little jealous that he had already gotten his license just fresh out of school, though it didn’t really surprise her that he was so good at it because she remembered that he had always been keen on car models and magazines.) “I know that Heejin is thinking of working with politics, and my father is willing to sponsor her to take a course in political science so she can create a foundation for herself, but everyone always thought that you would get into the best university.”

And Hyunjin was still a little bitter that things had changed.

Sighing, Hyunjin looked out of the window to the streets blurring past them and tried to ignore the sudden yearning she felt for her creator.

“I’m thinking of doing the same,” she confessed, remembering Vivi’s and Doyoung’s talk to her several days ago. “There’s people I know who are involved in the behind the scenes of everything going on who want me to join them.” Doyoung had tried to encourage her to act as a sort of heiress to Jinsoul, seeing as she had somehow gained the reputation of Jinsoul’s very powerful creation among sanguisuges. “Though I’ll be more involved in working on the projects that will help with the deals and things.”

“You already have a job?” Jeno sounded scandalized, and Hyunjin was worried he would swerve the car from how distracted he suddenly looked.

“I… I guess?” Hyunjin wasn’t really sure if she could call it a job. Not when she was doing it to protect her specie.

Expelling a large breath of air, Jeno fortunately reverted his eyes back to the road. “Woah… it makes sense when I really think about it, because everyone just expected you to be the most successful out of our batch but,” Hyunjin didn’t bother hiding her surprise, “it’s still shocking that at nineteen you already have a stable source of income.”

“I’m still eighteen,” she off-handedly commented, “my birthday is next month.”

Jeno’s eyes flashed brightly and then a sly smirk slipped on his face. “Are you gonna have a party, then? I could plan the _wildest_ party for you, if you want.”

Memories of the last party she attended began to flood her mind and she grimaced.

“Parties aren’t really… my thing,” Hyunjin said as carefully as she could. Well, at least not the ones that involved a bunch of irresponsible young adults who were just looking for a release (from stress, frustration, or something else entirely). She hoped that Jeno remembered what her image was when they were still at school together and wouldn’t push this idea further. “I don’t think I want to celebrate it this year anyway.”

“What?” Jeno raised his voice animatedly, the frown on his face looking strangely like he was trying not to smile. The amusement was evident, however, in the way his eyes flickered repeatedly to the rear-view mirror. “Who doesn’t celebrate their birthdays during this time of their lives?”

_Someone who has just recently realized that they’re going to have to celebrate thousands of more birthdays in their lifetime before their body lets them die._

“Okay, fine, I’ll respect that.” Jeno conceded easily, and Hyunjin found that his easy-going nature was surprisingly pleasant to be around. It was no wonder that he was so popular among his peers like Heejin was. Conversation flowed easily, and even if him and Hyunjin hadn’t exchanged many more words than on topics about homework and sport, he was still nicer to talk to than Hyejoo who she had been hanging out with for the past three months. “But if you _could_ celebrate your birthday in your most ideal way, how would you do it?”

Hyunjin thought for a second, and then the words were flying from her lips before she could stop them.

“I wouldn’t have a big party with a lot of people – mostly because I’m not close to many people and I’d feel uncomfortable with them there.” She thought back to simpler times and remembered how she had envisioned her perfect birthday party. “There’s this small flower convention that takes place during early November to celebrate all the flowers that bloom during autumn and winter in the outskirts of the city. They have beautiful landscapes, and I remember when my parents took me there were a lot of activities-“

“Oh! I know which one you’re talking about!” Jeno jumped suddenly, eagerness in his voice. “It’s the one that goes really late into the night and there’s fireworks and everything at the end, right?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“My father took me and my mother the winter before she passed away,” he shared, his voice unwavering and nonchalant despite the topic at hand. “It’s one of my last memories with her. Hey! Did you try the food that they had in on of the restaurants nearby the convention place?”

Hyunjin leaned forward in her seat. “No, when I went, we ate from the different food stalls they had near the hotels. Why? What did they have?”

Jeno sang a little tune, the happiness present in the creases of his eyes as he grinned brightly. “You _have_ to try their seolleongtang – I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything better in my life.”

Before she knew it, she and Jeno had had an entire conversation that revolved around the best foods they had ever had, exchanging recommendations in the midst of the flurry of dishes being said out loud. There was a pleasant feeling of comradery in her chest as she laughed along to a joke that Jeno had made, and she briefly wondered why it was that they had never spoken when they were at school together like they were speaking now.

It most likely had to do with the immense pressure that Hyunjin had felt from her parents to do well at school, meaning her only friends were her books and Heejin. Also probably had to do that Jeno wasn’t hanging out with his other male friends, who weren’t as amicable of a person as he was.

When they pulled up in front of Heejin’s apartment, Hyunjin remembered to thank him for acting quickly to help Heejin.

She remembered the anxiety she had felt when she’d read Heejin’s text message telling her to meet her at the hospital and how she had blamed herself for letting Heejin meet her bitch of a sister without any backup. (Deep down, she was grateful that Yerim had followed Heejin along and had been there to listen out for anything that was off. Even if they had that weird, tense thing going on.)

“That’s okay, do you need any help with- oh, you’re awake.”

Heejin grumbled something under her breath as she absent-mindedly undid her seatbelt.

Even if she had just been sleeping with her mouth open and currently looked like a disgruntled child woken by their parent, Hyunjin still watched Heejin with that feeling of love and adoration blooming in her chest.

Just last night she had felt Heejin waking up in the middle of the night beside her. Heejin had told her that she wanted to learn how to fight off her panic attacks by herself for when she slept in her apartment, so Hyunjin had waited for Heejin to do her exercises to calm herself down. It hurt her chest having to listen to her quiet murmuring without doing anything. She hadn’t been able to help herself when she had rolled over and wrapped her arm around her waist from the side, gently coaxing her to lie down again. (After all, she had to have rest for the meeting with her sister, which had not turned out as fine as Heejin had tried to make it seem.)

“Thanks Jeno,” Heejin said once they were out of the car.

He had rolled his window down for them and was currently looking up at Heejin with that stupid expression on his face that showed the entire world just how much he appreciated Heejin’s words of gratitude.

But could Hyunjin blame him when she was just as infatuated with the girl?

“No problem,” he boyishly grinned back, eyes darting between the two of them. “Hopefully I’ll be able to see you both at that party next Friday.”

Hyunjin tensed, still unsure whether or not she wanted to go to her first party ever since she had been turned. Beside her, Heejin let out a small chuckle and nodded, saying, “we’ll do our best to be there, but don’t hold your breath.” She dragged her feet over to where Hyunjin was stood and lazily wrapped her arms around Hyunjin’s nearest one, resting her cheek on her shoulder. “You can go now; don’t you have some sports game to watch?”

Jeno made a show of clutching his chest, starting up his engine again with a small smile on his face. “You wound me, Jeon.” He said ‘goodbye’ one last time (attempted to give Hyunjin a fist bump before he left) and rolled his window up.

Feeling Heejin’s fatigue in the way her entire weight was propped against her body (Heejin had taken to throwing herself at her without much remorse, knowing that Hyunjin’s strength would be able to cope with her) Hyunjin wrapped her arm around the smaller girl’s waist and gently nudged her to stand up straight. She didn’t say anything as they walked their way into Heejin’s apartment. The thoughtful expression on Heejin’s face meant that she was thinking, and even if she tried it would take a lot of effort to pull her from her own mind.

The keys to the apartment were already in her hand, having taken them from Heejin when they had gotten into Jeno’s car. She typed in the code of the apartment building to get through the first door and used the keys for the second, gently pulling Heejin through into the lobby where there was a receptionist quietly minding their own business.

They both bowed their heads in acknowledgement at her, seamlessly making their way to the elevators.

“How was the meeting this morning?” Heejin played with the end of the sleeve of her coat.

Sighing, Hyunjin looked from where the numbers of the elevator coming down were blinking in red LED lights to the patterns of the lobby floor. “Not good. We didn’t get anywhere with everyone fighting over ‘he said, she said’, and the mutual resentment from both sides.”

“Well… no one ever said peace wasn’t hard.” Heejin stared off distantly at the elevator doors. “Do you think that there’s any chance of any of them being convinced?”

Humming, Hyunjin tried thinking back to the room full of businessmen and politicians. “Some. Maybe with some demonstrations, some good bargains, using a good angle to connect… a lot of perseverance mostly.” Simply thinking about it was an uphill battle, and all Hyunjin wanted to do was collapse at the bottom and sleep forever.

But she had to do it. No matter how much she despised how corrupt the people in power were, she had to recognize that they were there for a reason and could have a part to play into stopping the extinction of sanguisuges. A lot of sanguisuges had lost their friends and family created through time to what the humans had done (and to the research that Heejin’s parents had conducted), so they had a right to be so angered with the humans. At the same time, Hyunjin’s practical side understood why the government wanted to get the economic load off their back.

Chiwon’s face came into view then. How he had spoken to that male sanguisuge that had arrived with Vivi and welcomed him as a cult leader would do to one of their new members.

She had a feeling that there was something stirring.

“What will you do about Sooyoung?” Hyunjin asked instead.

Her blood was still boiling when she thought about what she had tried doing to Heejin, and everything she had said to her in the past too. All of the panic attacks she and her father had induced by pushing lawyers and private bodyguards onto Heejin whenever she would leave her apartment. If Hyunjin had the choice, she would drag Sooyoung into the pits of an alleyway and tear her apart – but then she remembered the uncomfortable feeling of guilt in her chest for what she had done to those innocent sanguisuges at the syndicate, and she thought that maybe murder wasn’t the best answer to her problems.

The elevator doors pinged open and the two of them stepped aside to let out a woman and her small dog.

When they stood inside and Heejin had pressed the number to her floor, Heejin turned to press her front against Hyunjin’s and burrow her head in the crook of her neck.

Hyunjin’s immediate reaction was to feel the blush on her cheeks, still having disbelieving thoughts that Heejin was actually her girlfriend. She shuffled slightly and wrapped her arms around her back, nuzzling her cheek against the side of her head affectionately.

“I think…” Heejin’s small hands tightened on the back of Hyunjin’s coat. “I don’t think that what she did was from her own volition.”

Hyunjin frowned, trying to angle her face away to look at Heejin’s but finding that the latter only pulled her closer and hugged her harder.

“She told me about her family… or at least about our mother and her father, and how she had ended up being born.” There was a slight emotional tinge to Heejin’s voice as she spoke, and Hyunjin already knew what she was trying to say before she had even finished talking. “My mother had her like she was something unwanted and left her with a father who she had just made bankrupt, so he was unable to support him and his daughter.” It was sympathy. Something that Heejin withheld in excess amounts. “Did you know that she only recently found out that her mom wasn’t really her biological mother? That her actual biological mother didn’t even hold her when she was born and left them so she could start a new family?”

“Don’t tell me you forgive her…” Hyunjin’s grip on Heejin loosened, but the latter just squeezed her arms tightly around her.

“I think…” Her breath brushed over the base of Hyunjin’s neck very faintly. “…I would hate myself too. If I were in her position.”

Of course Heejin would think something like that. Even if said girl had just attempted to murder her with an allergy she didn’t know about. Heejin had always been easy to give forgiveness, and always a little difficult to receive.

Hyunjin didn’t know how to respond to her, because even though she was livid about the situation (more than Heejin herself, apparently) she couldn’t really tell Heejin to get angry at something she clearly didn’t think was worth getting angry over. Just because they were girlfriends now, it didn’t mean that they had to feel the same things over the same situations. After all, Heejin’s unnecessary kindness to people who barely deserved it was one of the reasons why Hyunjin admired her so much. It wasn’t like she could try to change that now.

Still, her mindset was harmful.

“Baby, I don’t care in what context it is you’re talking about, but you shouldn’t be so ready to hate yourself.” Hyunjin pulled her arms around the small girl tighter, clasping her hands together behind her. Heejin’s heartbeat picked up in her chest as soon as the term of endearment came out of her mouth, and Hyunjin smiled a little at the reaction. She pressed a small kiss to the side of her head, absolutely smitten with her. “You shouldn’t trust her that easily… even if you think it’s not her fault.”

“I know, I wasn’t saying that I trusted her,” Heejin grumbled, still clutching onto her for dear life.

“I know, I know…” Hyunjin gently pushed them off from where she had been leaning on the elevator wall. “You were just empathising with her situation.”

There was no response.

When Heejin finally remerged from where she had been buried in the crook of Hyunjin’s neck, she looked up at her with big, doe eyes and love and adoration shining in the warmth that the brown provided. Hyunjin felt her own heart skipping a beat in her chest, her head instinctively shying away from the surprise at the abrupt onslaught of emotions.

The smaller girl leaned up to press a soft kiss on her lips, her hands holding Hyunjin’s hips as the latter let herself melt into the display of affection.

The sound of the elevator doors sliding open interrupted their moment.

Hyunjin was about to help nudge Heejin out, when the distinct scent of something that resembled a burned tyre flooded her senses. It sent her back to chasing hellhounds in wet alleyways and abandoned buildings in the lower income parts of the city. Of Hyejoo’s black energy as it ripped through their bodies and left gaping holes inside of them with that viscous bodily fluid oozing out of them. The not quite blood yet still dangerously metallic in the undertones of whatever vile smell that was.

“Heejin, wait.” Hyunjin quickly moved to stand in front of her girlfriend, holding onto her forearm to get a bearing of the distance between them.

Sensing the seriousness in Hyunjin’s voice, Heejin didn’t make a sound in response. She stuck close to Hyunjin’s back but reached into the inside of her coat pocket for the dagger that Hyunjin knew she kept there for safety purposes. (It wasn’t silver, Heejin had assured her when she told her she bought it.)

As they edged out of the elevator, Hyunjin honed her senses so she could at least prepare herself for any sign of trouble.

She heard something that sounded like a snort. She frowned when she realized that hellhounds didn’t make sounds that soft. Their sounds were more of a monstrous, loud whirring sound that was borderline mechanical, with the faint sound of saliva being gurgled in the back of their throats as they snapped their jaws. This sounded like it as produced by a small child.

Down the hallway toward where Heejin’s apartment was situated, there sat the reason why there was hellhound fluids reeking the entire floor.

“What the-“ Hyunjin felt her eyes widening at the sight of the familiar girl slumped against Heejin’s apartment door. Sure enough, there was that black bodily fluids that erupted from hellhounds when they were injured or cut open drenched all over the girl’s clothes and face. Her head was limply resting on the wooden surface, hair in a messy state that couldn’t even be called a bird’s nest from how chaotic is seemed. Her heart was still beating in her chest, however, which meant that she wasn’t dead.

Heejin peered over her shoulder and inhaled sharply when she also set her eyes on the sight. “Is that Jiwoo?”

Hyunjin felt some of the tension leave her body, but she couldn’t stop the utter confusion that rooted her to her spot as she processed Jiwoo unconscious in front of Heejin’s apartment.

_What the hell had happened to her?_

_-_

“Do you know what you could have done if I hadn’t been here?”

“I know! You keep repeating yourself, I can hear what you’re saying!”

“Oh, can you? Because I think we all clearly remember telling you that you couldn’t learn how do the wakening process _until you were eighteen!”_

“Ryujin-unnie knew it when she was seventeen! How come I can’t learn it before too? I’m the most naturally powerful out of all of us-“

“And look how well that turned out for you!”

Multiple eyes turned to look toward Yeojin, who had distractedly been admiring the length of her right arm.

Noting the abrupt silence in the apartment, as well as the uncomfortable pressure that always formed under the weight of too many gazes, Yeojin looked up from her arm and to the several faces sitting around the dinner table.

Right across from her was Yuna, who had cowered in her chair and had wrapped her arms tightly around her waist while she was scolded. Beside her was Chaeryeong, who wore a guilty expression that Yeojin thought made sense when she remembered that it had been her to teach the underage witch the ‘wakening process’. Beside Chaeryeong was Lia and her shocked gaze, eyes still finding it difficult to move from Yeojin even an hour after everything had happened.

On the other side of Yuna was the woman who had saved her from being consumed by black magic, a cold glare on her face that softened slightly when Yeojin met it with wide, confused eyes. Ryujin sat beside the woman, an agitated frown on her face as she played with the rings she had slipped off her fingers. Yeji had taken to holding Yeojin’s left hand when the latter had almost fainted when she tried standing up, an anxious expression playing out on her face all the while.

Hyejoo was late to turn her head to look at her from her right side, apparently too lost in her own thoughts to register the pace of the conversation.

Put on the spot, Yeojin broke into a sheepish grin, laughing nervously under the weight of the coven’s stares.

“Yeojin-unnie is _fine_ – she likes her new superpowers, right Unnie?”

Yeojin thoughtlessly nodded at Yuna’s question, straightening in her chair at the thought of being able to do black magic now. “It was pretty cool, not gonna lie,” she grinned excitedly, though instantly shrivelled away when the woman glared at her reproachingly.

“She could have died, Yuna,” the woman deadpanned again, her voice strict.

She had been telling the youngest girl off for what she had done for the past hour, relentless in her rants and various recollections of family dinners that Yeojin had no idea what they had to do with what had happened but still nodded along to obediently. They had done loops around the ‘you’re too young’, ‘you’re too inexperienced’, ‘you could have killed her’, ‘our parents are going to kill you’ multiple times now, so Yeojin had taken to observing the new tattoo on her arm.

“And don’t even get me started on her wakening mark,” the woman – who Yeojin had identified as the Shin’s oldest sister and the one that Yeojin had come to persuade – turned to Yeojin and gestured for her to lift her arm. “I don’t know what you did, but there is no way it’s supposed to be as big as it is!”

Well, that explained the soft undertones of fear that bloomed on the witches’ faces when they looked at Yeojin’s arm.

“We’re going to have to talk to Mom about this,” the woman said, finality in her tone.

“What?” Yuna shot forward in her chair, eyes wide as she desperately sought out her sister’s gaze. “There’s no need for that – it’s only big because I’m just more powerful than the usual witch-“

“Which is exactly why we’re going to go.” Her sister cut her off, raising her eyebrows slightly as if daring Yuna to speak out. The latter didn’t and instead sank back in her seat again, sadness and pity in the pout on her lips. “You may be naturally talented, but that doesn’t explain- well… _that._ ”

By that, the oldest Shin was referring to the black, swirling marks that tainted the entire length of Yeojin’s right arm.

From the inside of her wrist to curl around her elbow and sneak to the back of her shoulder, there were intricate black patterns that resembled something akin to flowers and thorns. If anything, Yeojin would have thought that she suddenly had a very beautiful tattoo that had been designed by a great artist. Instead, she realized that the way the ink swirled faintly beneath her skin was truly the black magic that Lia had showed her on her own arm, but in a much smaller shape and more manageable size than the thing on Yeojin’s arm.

“You know if Haseul sees that she’s gonna kill you,” Hyejoo piped up from beside Yeojin, “right?”

Dread settled within Yeojin. “Oh crap…”

Right. If Haseul discovered whatever that mark was (which was going to be pretty difficult to hide, considering its size), she didn’t know if she would ever be allowed to leave her sight. No less Vivi – oh god, how would Vivi even react when she found out?

“Yerim!” Yeojin jumped, startling Yeji beside her who had been in her own little world. “She told me not to do anything stupid and that if I did, she would kill the person who let me.”

Perhaps not the smartest thing to tell the group of girls who had just witnessed her get possessed by black magic because of their youngest coven member.

“Who’s Yerim?” The woman said, straightening her back at the sound of the threat and casting a withering glare in Yeojin’s direction. It seemed that even if she had just spent a good hour berating her youngest sister for doing something stupid, she was willing to put herself in harm’s way to protect her. (Kind of like Haseul, Yeojin thought.)

“She’s a sanguisuge,” Ryujin bluntly butted in, leaning back on her chair agitatedly and slipping her rings back onto her fingers. “Don’t go all crazy now, Unnie, she’s not actually gonna kill Yuna – it was just a figure of speech.” Her sister furrowed her brow at the mention of Yerim being a vampire, glancing at Ryujin from the corner of her eye. “However, the person who _is_ gonna kill Yuna is _me_ , and you better not try to stop me when I do.”

Startled, Yeji widened her eyes at Ryujin. The latter rolled her eyes and discretely shook her head at her, as if to tell her that she wasn’t actually serious.

“Right,” the woman shifted in her seat unsurely, suddenly losing all of her previous anger and now looking more exhausted than ever. “You brought your friends here because they wanted something to do with the sanguisuges?”

At her words, Yeojin abruptly remembered why they were even there in the first place.

“Ah! Hello, I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself yet, my name is Jo Yeojin, and this is Son Hyejoo,” slightly pushing herself out of her chair to bow politely, Yeojin nudged at Hyejoo’s chair with her foot. It achieved her an irate scowl, but Hyejoo proceeded to mumble out something that sounded similar to ‘nice to meet you’ with a bow of her head. “And you’re right – I wanted to make a proposition.”

The woman blinked slowly at her, as if trying to process her words carefully. “It’s not your fault that my little sister almost murdered you before you could introduce yourself,” she said, ignoring the smack of protest on her arm from Yuna and hitting her square in the forehead without even having to look. (Yuna whined to herself, though Chaeryeong quickly restrained her and patted her head to comfort her.) “I’m Kim Jisoo, these girls’ older sister – no I don’t use the ‘Shin’ surname, I don’t want anyone looking into our family past when I’m working.”

Admittedly, Yeojin was a little intimidated by the older woman’s professional demeanour. But she felt a sharp pinch on her thigh, and she looked down at Hyejoo.

There was this strange, conflicted expression on her face that looked like she was constipated or something, because Yeojin had never seen her scrunch up her nose so much creases formed on her forehead. Yeojin was about to ask her if she was feeling alright, when Hyejoo schooled her expression and tried again.

She smiled.

Hyejoo smiled.

And it was a reassuring smile, not one of her sarcastic smiles when Yeojin did something to annoy her.

Feeling her heart swelling in her chest, Yeojin turned back to Jisoo, who had been watching the interaction with slightly raised eyebrows and a small grin on her lips. “I wanted to ask if you were willing to represent sanguisuges in legal matters,” she said confidently, chest puffed out and all.

Jisoo’s eyebrows rose even further. “And why would I agree to that?”

Yeojin felt herself deflate a little. Of course, she couldn’t exactly think that if she just asked nicely, she would have said ‘yes’. Maybe it had been a little stupid coming all this way and bothering all of the girls just to ask one simple question. Maybe she should have just listened to Vivi and left it for the adults to handle.

“Hey, why are you so quiet?” Jisoo perched her elbows on the table, the smile on her face growing slowly.

Caught off-guard, Yeojin felt her jaw drop. “Wh- I-“ The other girls at the table curiously watched the interaction with eager expressions, heads swivelling between the two as if they were watching a tennis match. “What?”

The woman laughed loudly to herself, and Yeojin found herself looking at Ryujin’s face to see if this was some normal reaction that her sister just happened to do. Seeing the slightly exasperated distaste on her features as she leaned away from her, Yeojin could infer that this wasn’t too out of the norm for the oldest Shin to do. Even Yuna managed to look irritated at the random outburst, whining at her to stop embarrassing her in front of all of her friends.

“I never said I wouldn’t do it,” Jisoo gave her a kind grin, crescents forming from the force of it. “You just haven’t told me why I would be interested in this case.”

Oh.

Yeojin felt her eyes widen, and then a large smile was blossoming on her face.

A rush of adrenaline surged through her as she bounced excitably in place.

She rushed forward to tell Jisoo all about why helping represent Vivi would be the right thing to do, the taste of relief very sweet on her tongue.

-

Hyunjin had known Jiwoo for a decent amount of time.

She was another level of joyfulness and positivity, and Hyunjin had been startled out of her pessimistic mindset the first couple of days she had come to know the older girl. When she greeted customers at the till, she did so with a toothy grin and an eagerness to please. Most of the tips that they received were because of Jiwoo’s presence (because Hyunjin’s smile was still stiff and tight-lipped from the fear that her fangs would accidentally come out) and their manager was absolutely smitten with her. Not only that, but their co-workers would always turn to her for help and Hyunjin wasn’t exempt from that demographic because she constantly pestered the older girl with questions when she couldn’t remember what had to be done.

However, Jiwoo had a tendency to be a push-over. Her kindness was often her biggest downfall, and Hyunjin knew that because she had watched Jiwoo take shifts that weren’t hers, make orders that weren’t hers to make, and apologise to customers when it hadn’t been her fault as to why their drinks were handed to them cold.

All in all, though, Jiwoo was a good person and Hyunjin had taken a liking to her. Even if she kept pestering her for Heejin’s number after the two had apparently met.

Which Hyunjin had not given to her out of stubbornness, so how Jiwoo had somehow found her way into Heejin’s very safely guarded apartment with high security while drenched in suspicious black fluids as if she had just emerged a bath of petrol was somewhat… concerning.

“Oh my god.” Heejin harshly took in a breath and Hyunjin was startled from where she had been dazedly staring into space.

Moving to where Heejin was sat beside the bathtub and had just shifted an unconscious Jiwoo forward, Hyunjin helped her quickly support the weight. She tried to see what had made Heejin react so violently, peering over the limp body.

They had peeled the drenched clothes from the older girl’s body, growing concerned when not even her bra had been salvageable from the way that the black blood had seeped through her cute sweatshirt. Hyunjin could barely even recognise the usual jovial face with how stained it was. Even her eyelids were stained by the black substance, and her hair was beginning to grow thick and sticky from how the fluids were beginning to dry. The bath water had immediately darkened when they lowered her into it, so they resolved to wiping all of the filth away before they allowed it to fill up again so Jiwoo wouldn’t be sitting in a cold bathtub.

Now that her body was exposed, Hyunjin could see why Heejin had reacted the way that she had.

“Those are a hellhound’s,” Hyunjin exhaled, taking note of the several gashes that had breached Jiwoo’s back.

They weren’t deep enough to be concerning, nor were they longer than the length of half her hand, but the fact that Jiwoo had even experienced a hellhound attack and managed to survive – nonetheless looked like she had injured the beast – was startling. As far as Hyunjin was concerned, Jiwoo was a human. She could smell her blood and it didn’t make her feel mildly disgusted, as it did with other sanguisuges. Nor did it smell ridiculously sweet like how Jungeun’s had smelled (Hyunjin figured that was something linked with demons). She just smelled human.

Heejin carefully wiped at Jiwoo’s back with a wet rag. They both watched as the fluids washed away and the pale skin underneath was uncovered.

Immediately, Heejin made a sound in the back of her throat. She shot her head up to look at Hyunjin with wide eyes, heartbeat pounding away at her chest, and Hyunjin wasn’t too sure if she was just confusing the two or if her own heart was really trying to match Heejin’s own. “These aren’t made by a hellhound,” Heejin whispered as if she were afraid that Jiwoo would hear them despite being slumped against Hyunjin’s shoulder. “Has she ever talked about…”

Knowing what she was trying to imply, Hyunjin quickly shook her head. A wave of unsettling sickness washed through her as she thought of the girl in her arms. “I never would have even thought about it.” Despite Hyunjin’s mild irritation towards Jiwoo’s constant optimism and extroverted nature, it felt incredibly wrong for someone to have attempted to snuff out that light. It made Hyunjin frown deeply when she remembered the many times Jiwoo had stepped in when she’d been having trouble with customers and had put herself in harm’s way by trying to diffuse the situation. “I can’t believe that Jiwoo-unnie had to put up with something like this and yet-“

She should have seen the signs.

There were times when Hyunjin would walk into the storage room and Jiwoo would vacantly stare at the shelves with a blank look on her face. Or times where she’d hear her mumbling to herself, continually stretching and snapping the rubber band around her wrist to the point where Hyunjin had stopped her once and asked her why she was hurting herself. (Jiwoo had looked surprised, as if she hadn’t even been aware of what she was doing, and laughed sheepishly, saying it comforted her.)

How long had this been going on? Did she have problems at home that she had been keeping to herself? Was that why she often took the night shifts when no one else wanted to?

“You better not be blaming yourself for this,” Heejin said, reaching out to harshly squeeze at her bicep.

Hyunjin flinched away, glaring. “How could I not? She’s probably been putting up with this for a long time now.”

“And you’ve only known her for how long?” Heejin settled her with a reprimanding raise of her eyebrows, gently leaning Jiwoo off of her shoulder so she could get a better grip around her shoulder to wipe away the blood. “I better not see you trying to take the blame for something that is completely out of your control.”

Sighing, Hyunjin simply reached to grab a sponge from the small tub of warm water that they had prepared. They continued to wipe away the grime from Jiwoo’s body in silence, the multitude of thoughts that continued erupting in their minds making up for the lack of conversation.

They would just have to ask Jiwoo for answers when she woke up.

“My parents created these monsters,” Heejin mumbled through barely parted lips, pushing Jiwoo forward again so she could reach her lower back. Hyunjin felt herself tense, her muscles become taut with apprehension and surprise, because Heejin had been trying her best to forget what her parents had done and the legacy they had left her. “They spent most of their lives perfecting them so that they would be perfect killing machines.”

Hyunjin delicately held Jiwoo’s face between her fingers, trying to wipe away at the mixture of mascara and blood in her eyelashes and around her eyes. “Do you know why they were making them?”

For the better part of these past three months, Hyunjin had been chasing these hellhounds down, killing them and later hiding their bodies somewhere where no one would be able to find them. She had learned the basic information about them – how they usually preferred to travel alone so that when they killed, they would be able to enjoy their food undisturbed, how their preferred method of killing was tearing bodies to shreds because they lacked the basic understanding of decency, and how the safest method to kill one was from a safe distance so that they wouldn’t reach with their claws and speed. But there had been little explanation as to why the government had been meddling with creatures like these, and how they had planned on controlling them at all.

She supposed that the likeliest person to know about this would have to be the daughter of the people in charge of the project.

“They were creating biological weapons.” Heejin had grown a slight addiction toward paging through her parents’ work. Hyunjin had had to pull her away from reports and folders numerous times so that she would actually get some rest, briefly wondering if that was how she had felt when Hyunjin had been obsessed with studying at school.

“Biological weapons that they couldn’t control?” Hyunjin felt her eyebrows pull together slightly as she reached to soak the filthy sponge in the water.

“No, they could control them.” The only two emotions dabbling in Heejin’s voice were traces of confusion and forced indifference. “At least I think that’s what they could do? I didn’t really understand all of the science behind it – that’s your forte – but I think it had something to do with a device that connected the creature’s wavelengths to the person who put the device on.” Heejin paused her movements for a second. She stared dazedly at Jiwoo’s back as Hyunjin squeezed the excess water out from her sponge, and the latter paused to watch her carefully. “I think that’s what Choi-seong- that- what _he_ used to control them during that time.”

Chanwoo. Jinsoul’s past lover who had somehow risen from the dead to carry out his revenge plan against sanguisuges for his death. At least that’s what Hyunjin thought he had been trying to do – she wasn’t too sure as no one had really discovered what his motives for doing so were.

She hoped that it had just been a revenge plan and that was the end of that, but something about the entire situation irked her.

“How do you think he found out about it?” Hyunjin made sure to avoid his name. For the reason that merely pronouncing it stabbed at her heart when she remembered he had been the one to kill Jinsoul, and that he had been responsible for the death of Heejin’s father. There still lay that feeling of unsatisfaction knowing that he had died without a single regret for what he had done.

Jiwoo’s face looked cleaner now. Sitting this closely, Hyunjin could see the shadows and bags under her eyes. Was she not getting enough sleep?

Heejin sat back on her haunches and dropped her rag into the tub, having finished doing what she could with Jiwoo’s back. “I don’t know,” she said, mindlessly picking at a strand of Jiwoo’s hair and testing its texture between the pads of her fingers, “but he must have had someone on the inside who was aware of what was happening… or he had made connections with one of the people who were working on the project and got them to tell him about how it worked but… that doesn’t sound too likely.”

Humming to fill the silence, Hyunjin awkwardly glanced away from Jiwoo’s bare front. She was just barely comfortable with looking at her own body, so seeing somebody else’s was out of the question. Especially when they were unconscious and hadn’t given them consent to undress them like that.

Then again, had they not done this the wounds on Jiwoo’s body would have most likely become infected.

Taking notice of her hesitation, Heejin quietly shuffled over to where she was crouched and slid her hand over the one that was holding onto the sponge. “I got it, you just make sure she doesn’t fall,” she said softly, giving her a tense smile.

Hyunjin softened her demeanour, taking in the way that there was that ever-growing darkness holding itself over Heejin’s expression. Wordlessly leaning in, she pecked her on the lips and obediently did as asked.

Now that they had exchanged places, Hyunjin could see Jiwoo’s back more clearly – especially now that Heejin had wiped away the black blood. If she counted, she could see that there were four or five gashes embedded into her skin from where the hellhound’s claws had probably caught and teared at. She recognised the slight dents of torn skin at her left shoulder where the hellhound had most likely tried grabbing at her shoulder with one of its claws and thought that maybe calling Haseul for help in treating the wounds wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

(Going to the hospital with Jiwoo looking like this would be a terrible idea. There was no way that this could pass off as a rabid dog attack.)

Sure enough, just like Heejin had pointed out, beneath the most recently opened wounds were dark scars where the skin had desperately attempted to heal over. Flashes back to having to watch Jinsoul’s back be whipped apart while Jungeun and several other guards held her back flared in her mind, and Hyunjin once more quelled the abrupt longing for her creator.

Yerim had said to trust Jungeun and Jinsoul, who continued to lay in that strange, glowing bath of water.

Hyunjin didn’t know whether to grasp onto the hope or not.

“Those weren’t the only experiments they conducted.” Heejin broke the silence a little clumsily with her deep, tentative voice. She sounded as if uncertainty was keeping the words back in her body with locks and chains, yet at the same time she sounded as if she were desperate to push them out once and for all. Hyunjin refrained from making any brash movements, though still peered up at the girl through her eyelashes. The tempestuous expression made Hyunjin’s stomach drop.

Straightening her posture, Hyunjin shuffled to look at Heejin. “What do you mean…”

Heejin had moved onto wiping down Jiwoo’s torso, and Hyunjin couldn’t help but be surprised at how unaffected she was by Jiwoo’s state of undress. “When I… when you first became a sanguisuge, I got scared and went into my father’s office to try to find information about… them.”

Oh. So this was what they were going to talk about.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t discussed everything that had happened. Heejin had apologised for taking so long to tell her about being used to lure Hyunjin into danger, and Hyunjin confessed that it would take her a little time to regain that trust back but that she had forgiven her the moment she had seen her text message to her parents when she’d had her phone. Hyunjin also admitted that she felt incredibly guilty for attacking Heejin when Gowon had been in her head and had told her to kill anyone that got in her way – and that including Heejin. (Heejin had asked for confirmation that she felt nothing for Gowon or Chaewon because of their liking for her. To say that Hyunjin had been surprised to find out that Chaewon liked her in that way would be an understatement.)

But it had never been in a lot of great detail. At least not like this.

“When I scared you at school?” Hyunjin asked.

“When I chased after you when you left the party,” Heejin said under her breath, reaching to dip the sponge into the slightly murky water in the tub.

Surprised, Hyunjin watched the other’s face vigilantly. “You knew?”

Seeming to have decided that they had cleaned off enough of the bodily fluids on Jiwoo’s body, Heejin let go of the older girl’s arm and slightly stood up to reach for the tub. She poured the dirty water out into the drain, trying to make sure that none of it got back on the unconscious girl. “Yeah, I could see your eyes. They were red at the time.”

“But you,” Hyunjin flinched when Heejin turned on the water from the shower head, some of it managing to spray on both her and an unconscious Jiwoo. “You still talked to me that day at school.”

Heejin stood silently with the shower head aimed at the wall as she waited for the water temperature to become just right. Just when Hyunjin thought that she wasn’t going to say anything else, she said, “I was worried about you.”

The temperature in the room was warm thanks to the heat of the water, but Hyunjin could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

“I was so scared that something had happened to you that I didn’t care if you were a sanguisuge or not.”

“But you still…”

A sigh, and Heejin sank to sit back down beside the bathtub, her arms dangling over the edge as she tested the water temperature again. “My parents were insistent on me pretending like I knew nothing so that I would be able to lure you away,” her voice was tight, “they did everything they possibly could so that they could get to you because they knew that they were close to the end of the success of their project.”

Hyunjin settled her jaw. She had to admit that it still hurt a little when she thought about how Heejin had been willing to throw her to the wolves just because her parents had asked her to. She tried to understand that Heejin’s relationship with her parents was a complicated one. One that had gotten even more complex with the appearance of a surprise half-sister who held a vendetta against Heejin and their mother. But Hyunjin was still a person, and it would make sense that when the person she loved betrayed her like this, she held some type of bitterness.

“The whole thing didn’t really sit right with me,” Heejin said, absent-mindedly playing with the water with her fingers. “I felt strange being used as some kind of bait to lure you into my parents’ trap so they could experiment with you-“

“And turn me into one of the monsters that did this to Unnie.” Hyunjin couldn’t help but grumble, still gently prying the shower head from Heejin’s grasp to start spraying the warm water over Jiwoo’s body that had very faintly begun to shiver.

Sometimes, Hyunjin hated being able to hear everything so well.

Like when she was trying to focus on making somebody’s order at the coffee shop, and she would overhear someone’s conversation about how their husband was definitely cheating on them with their cousin. Or hearing the criticisms someone would whisper to their friend whenever they finished ordering from one of her co-workers. Sometimes she would just be walking down the streets after a late shift and accidentally listen into a couple’s private time.

Now, she could hear the way that Heejin’s heart was racing in her chest and the minor hitch to her breath.

“But you didn’t do it in the end, Heejin,” Hyunjin softened her voice, knowing just how much Heejin regretted making her choices back then. She was trying to take a page from Heejin’s book and trying to learn how to forgive people who wanted and deserved to be forgiven, even though her pride told her not to. “You stood up to them when you told them that you wanted nothing to do with their project.”

The conversation felt unfinished. Like there were a multitude of things that had to be said and Heejin was holding it all back as she distracted herself by washing off Jiwoo’s legs.

There hadn’t been much blood on her lower body, which implied that whatever had happened between Jiwoo and the hellhound most likely involved a lot of the older girl’s upper body. Hyunjin could remember her proudly saying that she was specially trained in taekwondo but had barely believed her when the girl had jokingly sliced at her stomach with her hand. Taking a look at the shape of her arms now, Hyunjin could see the outlines of her muscle defined even if she wasn’t flexing.

Hyunjin carefully supported Jiwoo’s head as she moved the shower head to her hair, beginning to dread having to work out all the knots and tangles in the mess that had formed there. From her widened peripherals, she could see Heejin already reaching for the shampoo that always made her smell like fresh flowers and perfumes.

“I need to tell you something about my parents,” Heejin whispered, barely even making a sound as she began to work her hands into the ends of Jiwoo’s hair.

This was the second time in this conversation that Hyunjin’s stomach had dropped.

Anticipating the worst, Hyunjin steeled herself and focused harder on cleaning Jiwoo’s hair. “What is it?” She asked tentatively.

“During the time where I was… working for them, they fed me some medications and gave me injections under the rouse that one of the illnesses that I had as a child was coming back.” The strong scents of the shampoo began to invade Hyunjin’s nose, and despite the conversation they were having just being able to smell the source of most of her moments of happiness and peacefulness was enough to lull her anxiety. “I had a hospital check-up recently – earlier than the one that I had today – with the family doctor, and had my blood tested.”

Hyunjin had drank from Heejin that one time. She could still viscerally remember the way that Heejin’s blood had tasted, and once in a while she would find herself subconsciously sniffing out the scent for more. When she had told Heejin about it, her girlfriend had immediately offered to cover up the smell of her blood as much as she could, and since then had taken to wearing perfumes, scented water sprays or some other kind of additional aroma so that Hyunjin’s cravings for blood wouldn’t take over her.

She realised once more that she had missed lunch that day what with everything that had happened, and the tightness in her chest and stomach was warning her of her hunger once more.

“My blood type changed,” Heejin deadpanned, reaching up for the showerhead so she could try to rinse away the shampoo from Jiwoo’s hair. “It’s not really a normal blood type now… it’s just… different.”

A lump formed in the back of Hyunjin’s throat, her mind beginning to seek out that familiar sweet smell that had always lured her a little closer to Heejin. “What do you mean?” She harshly blinked herself out of her stupor and focused on getting lumps of gravel and dirt out of Jiwoo’s hair. “Can that happen...” She remembered conversations of the make-up of her blood being changed after she became a sanguisuge and felt a nausea overcome her.

“I remember reading it in my father’s private notebook one time-“ Heejin reached for the shampoo again when Jiwoo’s hair was still too filthy. “About blood manipulation.”

Silence warped the space between them. Hyunjin thought she felt Jiwoo twitch under her hands but was too concerned with what Heejin had just said.

“I think the reason why you’re so bothered by the smell of my blood in particular is because my parents tampered with it,” Heejin explained numbly, though the tears lining the bottom of her eyes glinted underneath the bathroom light. Hyunjin had to hold herself back from gasping from the horror. The fact that someone would do that to their own children and for what? “You would think that they would tamper it so that no sanguisuge would ever want to drink from me when it came down to it but…”

Heejin removed her right hand from underneath the water and carelessly wiped the inside of her wrist on the surface of her loose shirt. Taking in a shaky breath, Heejin hesitated before lifting her hand up closer to Hyunjin’s face.

It took her a second, but when she inhaled the second time she was struck with an onslaught of copper and sweetness that made the clench of hunger in her stomach tighten even further. She felt herself leaning forward into Heejin’s wrist, her jaw dropping and her fangs begging to be released from her gums.

“Hey.” Heejin quickly moved her wrist away and flicked her forehead, immediately snapping her out of her trance.

“Sorry,” Hyunjin mumbled, shaking her head and trying to ignore her hunger. “I didn’t mean to I just-“

“Yeah. That’s what my parents wanted to happen.” Smiling bitterly, Heejin continued to wash Jiwoo’s hair. No matter how much she tried to hide it, Hyunjin could sense the sadness and anger underlying in her voice.

That was sickening. Hyunjin didn’t want to believe it but thinking back on everything that had happened and the creatures that she had continually had to kill week after week now, it made a lot of sense for Heejin’s parents to do something like that – even to their own daughter. But still, she couldn’t help but let that slight disbelief force her to say, “You mean that…”

Heejin turned her head to meet her eyes, and Hyunjin felt the floor reach up and root her to her spot. She couldn’t look away from the concoction of emotions that were being displayed in her features.

Before either of them could say much, the twitch that Hyunjin had felt beneath her hands proved right as Jiwoo launched herself forward from where she had been limply resting in Hyunjin’s arms. She did so with a shriek, her arms flailing outward and accidentally striking both Hyunjin and Heejin in the face. Hyunjin wasn’t too sure but she thought that she could hear Jiwoo babbling about something or other, already going on a rant on how she would knock out whoever it was that had been touching her.

“Unnie!” Hyunjin shouted, trying not to get punched in the face from Jiwoo’s panic. “Unnie, stop! It’s us!”

“Who’s us?!” Jiwoo cried back, voice shrill and threatening to crack. Her eyes were wide and very desperately shaking around the room to register where she was. When they landed on Hyunjin, she recoiled in the bathtub and scrambled to cover herself up as much as she could with her hands and arms. “Hyunjin?! Why am I naked in your bathtub?!”

“Hi, Jiwoo-ssi,” Heejin said softly, putting on her best smile that had always made their peers swoon. Hyunjin had to try very hard to shake herself out of her stupor when she suddenly saw it again after so many months. “It’s okay, you’re safe. You’re in my apartment. We found you unconscious outside.”

There was a moment of absolute silence, where all Hyunjin could hear was Jiwoo’s rapid heartbeat, Heejin’s steady breathing and the blood rushing through her own ears. All three girls stared at each other, trying to assess the situation as best as they could.

Then, Jiwoo slowly relaxed and the outrage in her expression melted into something akin to genuine confusion. “So… it was real? It wasn’t another episode?”

Heejin glanced at her from the corner of her eye, and Hyunjin blinked harshly as she tried processing what Jiwoo was trying to say. “What are you talking about?” She tried to say it as nicely as possible, but Jiwoo was really starting to confuse her.

“The voices…” Jiwoo’s eyes widened. “They always tell me it’s not real.”

_What?_

“It was real?”

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted on aff under gaymess
> 
> also writing a lipsoul au on twitter in case u wanna check it out bc I'm too ambitious for my own good shjsbdd  
> @/epochiraaeth


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